On June 17, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee moved a plea before the Calcutta High Court. In the plea, she challenged the election victory of rival-BJP’s leader Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram.

The case would be taken up by the High Court for hearing on June 18. Nearly a month-and-a-half after the declaration of assembly poll results, the legal battle has erupted over the election win of Adhikari. Nandigram assembly constituency had witnessed a personal, a high stakes & high-voltage electoral clash between Mamata Banerjee and her former protégé Adhikari. The latter had jumped ship to BJP in December last year, in hope of getting ahead of Mamata Banerjee in the state polity. But his calculus fell short to predict the complete picture.

Also Read: Mamata Banerjee wins Bengal election but loses Nandigram to Suvendu Adhikari

Trinamool Congress (TMC) led by Mamata Banerjee registered a sweeping win in the assembly polls. But, Adhikari won by a narrow-margin against the chief minister at Nandigram- the centre of West Bengal election 2021.

Suvendu Adhikari won the contest by a slim margin of 1,956 votes, as per the final result declared by the Election Commission of India. Final declaration of result was preceded by a confusion which erupted during the vote counting.

A number of reports had earlier declared Mamata Banerjee as the winner. Sometime later, the polling body issued a clarification, claiming that Adhikari secured more number of votes, which was questioned.

A per the final tally, Adhikari bagged 1,10,764 votes, whereas, Banerjee secured 1,08,808 votes. Trinamool had subsequently levelled allegations of irregularities in the counting.

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Sources on the condition of anonymity suggested that this case is linked to the case of missing EVMs, which BJP and the poll body are allegedly trying to brush under the carpet. In June 2017, the poll body had told the Bombay High Court that 20 lakh EVMs that the manufacturers affirmed to have delivered are ‘missing’ from the possession of the Election Commission. However, the poll body has refuted this report which visibly has placed it in discomfort.