Mamata Banerjee's plea to declare Suvendu Adhikari's Nandigram win as null and void to be heard today

Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has filed an election petition before the Calcutta High Court praying for declaring the election of Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram as null and void, and the matter has been listed for hearing on Friday. As per the ‘cause list’ released by the high court on its website on Thursday, the matter is scheduled to be taken up via video conference before the court of Justice Kausik Chanda as “to be mentioned”. The West Bengal chief minister, in her petition, has accused Adhikari of committing corrupt practises violating Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The alleged corrupt practices included “bribery, undue influence, spreading enmity”, according to her petition. Banerjee also claimed in her plea that discrepancies were committed in the counting process. The Election Commission had declared Adhikari the winner and the Trinamool Congress supremo the runner-up in the fiercely contested election for the Nandigram constituency. Alleging discrepancies and malpractices in the counting process and refusal of requests for recounting of votes by the returning officer, Banerjee had said following declaration of the results that the doors of the court would be knocked on the issue. BJP MLA Adhikari is at present the leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.