‘Mamata Banerjee vs Suvendu Adhikari’ in Calcutta high court at 11 am

Kolkata, June 18: The Calcutta High Court will hear West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's plea against her close aide-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari around 11 am today. The petition challenges Adhikari's election victory from the Nandigram constituency.

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 Trinamool Congress supremo, in her petition, has accused Adhikari 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 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 Suvendu Adhikari is at present the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal assembly.