Mamata Banerjee moves Calcutta HC challenging Nandigram poll defeat to Suvendu Adhikari

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday moved to the Calcutta High Court challenging the Nandigram assembly constituency election result where BJP's Suvendu Adhikari emerged victorious against her. The matter has been listed for hearing on Friday. 

In the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee lost to her former aide Suvendu Adhikari in the heavyweight encounter at Nandigram. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), BJP's Adhikari defeated the incumbent Chief Minister by a margin of 1737 votes. Notably, Mamata Banerjee had vacated her seat of Bhabanipore to contest the polls from Nandigram in a bid to challenge former confidante who switched to the BJP months before the polls.

While Mamata Banerjee lost to her former aide in a pitched battle that had witnessed intense drama, including the TMC chief sustaining an injury to her leg, and then a desperate last-ditch voting day attempt to muster support, Trinamool Congress eventually registered an emphatic win overall in the state by securing 213 Assembly seats. Suvendu Adhikari is now the Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal where the BJP had won 77 seats, though some leaders have now returned to the Trinamool.

The Nandigram battle: Suvendu Adhikari defeats Mamata Banerjee

In a bid to protect her home-turf, Mamata Banerjee had battled BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in the place which had catapulted Mamata Banerjee into the CM post in 2011. Miffed by the rising influence of Banerjee's nephew - Abhishek Banerjee and IPAC poll strategist Prashant Kishor in Trinamool, Adhikari along with several other MLAs had switched to BJP. Taking the battle head-on, Banerjee had announced she will contest polls from Nandigram instead of her bastion Bhowanipore, leading to BJP fielding Adhikari. 

While Nandigram is a Trinamool bastion, it is the Adhikari family - Sisir, Suvendu, Dibyendu, and Soumendu which has massive sway in the district - leading to Suvendu's victory over Mamata by a margin of 1737 votes. Though Mamata accepted her defeat, she said that she will challenge the electoral verdict in court. The nail-biting clincher saw Suvendu Adhikari take the lead by 4000 seats over Mamata Banerjee, but later the margin reduced to mere 6 votes, before Mamata took the lead but eventually lost amid much confusion.

The Nandigram poll battle saw the most high-voltage campaign as Mamata played her 'Bengal's daughter' card, while Suvendu has accused TMC of only 'promoting the nephew'. Mamata, suffered an injury while campaigning in Nandigram - which she blamed on BJP, and vowed to conduct her campaign on a wheelchair with the BJP calling it 'sympathy politics'. Mamata had also termed Adhikaris as 'Mir Jafars' while Suvendu fearmongered that 'Bengal will become mini-Pakistan' if Mamata is re-elected.

(Image Credits: PTI/ANI)