The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday will hear the petition filed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenging the assembly election results in Nandigram where BJP's Suvendu Adhikari was declared a winner.

The matter has been listed for hearing along with her petition of recusal of the case before the bench of Justice Kaushik Chanda. Justice Chanda had on 18 June adjourned till 24 June Banerjee's election petition praying for declaring the election of Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram null and void on grounds of committing corrupt practises as envisaged under 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 that discrepancies were committed in the counting process.

The matter had been mentioned on that date by Banerjee's lawyer before the court of Justice Chanda as per the list for hearing.

The judge had directed the Registrar, High Court, Original Side, to file a report before the court by the next date of hearing as to whether the election petition has been filed in conformity with the Representation of People Act, 1951.

Nandigram battle

The CM had vacated her seat of Bhabanipore to fight her former confidante Adhikari in the recently-concluded West Bengal assembly elections. However, she lost by less than 2,000 votes from the Nandigram seat.

While initial counting put the Bengal CM ahead of Adhikari by 1,200 votes, the BJP's candidate eventually managed to score a victory by defeating the two-time chief minister.

Despite this, the TMC registered a landslide victory in polls winning 213 seats in the 294-member West Bengal assembly. While the BJP lost the polls but emerged as the second-largest party with 77 seats.

However, 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.

Reassignment of petition

A lawyer representing Banerjee said that the application seeking a change of judge was filed as she alleged that Justice Chanda "was an active member of the BJP".

Banerjee's counsel had earlier written to the Acting Chief Justice of the high court praying for reassignment of her election petition to another bench.

The CM's lawyer also stated in the letter that she "had objected to the confirmation of the Hon'ble Judge as a Permanent Judge of the Hon'ble High Court at Calcutta" and, as such, apprehends there is a likelihood of bias on the part of the judge concerned.

Banerjee's counsel urged that the letter be placed before the Acting Chief Justice forthwith "for necessary reassignment of Election Petition so as to avoid any prejudice and/or presumption of prejudice".

The ruling TMC, on its official Twitter handle, also shared a purported photograph of Chanda sharing the dais with state BJP president Dilip Ghosh.

The BJP, however, said the judiciary should be respected.

"I share the stage with a lot of people. What is the harm if he had shared the dais with us when he was a lawyer? Now, he is a judge. We should respect the judiciary," Ghosh said.