After Mamata Banerjee, former TMC minister Santiram Mahato challenges poll result

Mahato lost to BJP’s Baneswar Mahato in Balarampur constituency by less than 500 votes.

File Photo

Kolkata: Former TMC minister Santiram Mahato on Friday (June 18) moved Calcutta High Court challenging the poll result of Balarampur constituency in Purulia where he lost to BJP’s Baneswar Mahato by less than 500 votes.

Mahato through his petition has appealed for recounting of votes cast in the constituency in the recently concluded assembly elections.

The high court observed that the documents related to counting and nomination of the Balarampur seat should not be tampered with in any way. The matter was then fixed for the next hearing on July 15.

This comes a day after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenged the polling process in the Nandigram assembly constituency, where she lost to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari by a narrow margin.

In Banerjee’s case, a single-judge bench of Justice Kaushik Chanda asked her lawyer to serve copies of the election petition to the opposite parties. Further, he adjourned the hearing to June 24.

In her petition, Banerjee has accused her protege-turned-rival and Suvendu Adhikari of committing corrupt practices as envisaged under Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

She has also alleged that discrepancies were committed in the counting process during the Nandigram seat results.

Meanwhile, BJP took potshots at Banerjee over the move. Amit Malviya, BJP IT cell chief took to social media, and said, “How do you lose an election twice? First, at the hustings and then, like a sore loser, challenging people’s verdict in the court.”

"It would be fascinating to see Mamata Banerjee suffer the humiliation of Nandigram defeat twice over," he tweeted.