Ever since her loss to her former protege and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram during the Assembly polls, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has been decrying and challenging the verdict.
Recently, the Calcutta High Court, which had agreed to hear her plea against the result, changed the hearing date to June 24. Now, however, Banerjee wants the bench that will hear the plea changed entirely.
The reason? Possible bias.
Speaking on Banerjee's behalf, her lawyer wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Acting Chief Justice, saying that the judge assigned to the bench, Justice Kaushik Chanda, was an "active member of the BJP".
“My client has filed the Election Petition challenging the election of Suvendu Adhikari, a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The adjudication of the Election Petition shall also have political ramification. My client has been made aware that Hon’ble Justice Kaushik Chanda was an active member of the BJP. Thus in the event the Hon’ble Judge takes up the Election Petition there will be reasonable apprehension in my client’s mind of bias on part of the Hon’ble Judge in favour of the Respondent and/or against my client,” the letter said.
Interestingly, Chanda is not even a confirmed judge at the High Court, the letter said.
“Further, the Hon’ble Justice Kaushik Chanda is yet to be confirmed as a Permanent Judge of this Hon’ble Court. As stated above my client’s views were sought by the Hon’ble Chief Justice on the confirmation of the Hon’ble Justice Kaushik Chanda as a Permanent Judge of the Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta. My client had conveyed her objections and reservation to such confirmation. My client apprehends that the Hon’ble Judge is aware of her objections and as such my client reasonably apprehends that there is a likelihood of bias on the part of the Hon’ble Judge,” stated the letter.
The TMC shared a photo of Chanda sharing a dais with BJP leaders to support Banerjee's apprehension of a possible bias in the bench, saying: "Justice Kaushik Chanda is seen sharing a stage with BJP's Dilip Ghosh. Unsurprisingly, he's also the judge who has been assigned to hear the Nandigram case. As the Indian Judiciary system gets murkier day by day, will there be any justice in this case? Only time will tell."
The BJP, however, said the judiciary should be respected.
"I share the stage with a lot of people. What is the harm if he had shared the dais with us when he was a lawyer? Now, he is a judge. We should respect the judiciary," Dilip Ghosh said.
(With DHNS and agency inputs)