West Bengal BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari’s decision to move the Supreme Court to transfer Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Nandigram assembly election result case — which she has filed before the Calcutta High Court — seems to be as much a political move as a legal one. Legal observers in Kolkata believe that this could be a “tactic” that may cost Mamata Banerjee dearly, even if temporarily so.
A Bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar at the Calcutta High Court on Thursday adjourned Banerjee’s election petition till November 15, after Adhikari’s counsel Joydeep Kar submitted that his client has moved the apex court for a transfer of the case outside the state on the apprehension that he may not be privy to a fair trial in West Bengal.
What’s important here is the fact that Mamata Banerjee faces a six-month Constitutional deadline to have herself re-elected in a by-election in the state. She took oath as chief minister for her third consecutive term in May despite her close-margin loss to Adhikari in the Nandigram seat by a little over 1,700 votes — a result that now stands challenged before the state’s higher judiciary.
That deadline expires on November 5, ten days ahead of the next date of hearing before the Calcutta High Court, given the fact she took oath on May 5, this year.
In a memo dated August 9, 2021, the Election Commission of India has reached out to all national and state-level political parties, asking for their suggestions on how to hold the scheduled by-polls in the wake of the prevailing pandemic.
Many feel that despite Trinamool Congress’s repeated formal appeals before the EC to quickly hold the by-polls, citing improved Covid conditions, the likelihood of the polls taking place within October this year is no more than an outside possibility.
Under the circumstances, and with Banerjee’s petition getting deferred to at least November 15, before which there can be no verdict on whether there would be a recounting of Nandigram results, the chief minister of West Bengal would have no choice but to temporarily step down. Until, of course, she fights the by-elections and emerges victorious from a seat of her choice, which is likely to be her previous favourite, Bhawanipore.
BJP trying to score brownie points?
The legal ramifications aside, some believe that the step itself would score major political brownie points for the BJP and Suvendu Adhikari, who was once Banerjee’s trusted lieutenant and has now turned into her arch political rival.
With 75 MLAs in Adhikari’s kitty, it is evident that the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly is determined to make things as difficult as possible for the Trinamool Congress supremo. The ball now rests, fairly and squarely, in Mamata Banerjee’s court, legally and politically, awaiting her next move.
Mamata had moved the Calcutta High Court in June to challenge her Nandigram defeat. In her election petition before the HC, Mamata stated that Adhikari has “committed corrupt practices” of “bribery, undue influence, spreading enmity” and “seeking votes on the basis of religion”.
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