Overview
- The High Court formally admitted Mamata Banerjee’s election petition challenging Suvendu Adhikari’s May 4 Bhabanipur win and found the petition meets the requirements of the Representation of the People Act.
- The court directed the Election Commission, the West Bengal chief electoral officer and the returning officer to preserve all EVMs, VVPAT units and May 4 counting‑centre CCTV without erasure, redeployment, opening or tampering unless the court permits it.
- Justice Gaurang Kanth disclosed in open court that his elder brother is a BJP national spokesperson and the petitioner’s lead counsel, Kalyan Bandyopadhyay, expressly raised no objection to the judge hearing the case.
- The court set a procedural timetable that asks respondents to file affidavits in about four weeks, allows a rejoinder roughly four weeks after that, and listed the matter for further hearing in roughly eight to twelve weeks.
- The petition alleges corrupt practices, counting irregularities after the 12th round, illegal deletion of electors and conflicts of interest in official appointments, and the preservation order aims to keep material evidence available for proving or disproving those claims.