Nandigram poll plea: Justice Chanda recuses himself; imposes Rs 5 lakh fine on CM Mamata

In a massive development, Calcutta High Court Justice Kausik Chanda on Wednesday, recused himself from CM Mamata Banerjee's plea hearing challenging Nandigram poll results. Condemning the manner in which Banerjee sought his recusal, Justice Chanda imposed Rs. 5 lakh on her for the plea. Refuting any conflict of interest, Justice Chanda stated that another bench will now hear the case.  

Justice Chanda recuses himself from Nandigram plea

"I am unable to convince myself that there is a conflict of interest. The applicant has taken too somber a view of integrity of a Judge. I have however decided to recuse myself from this case. Such calculative, psychological and offensive attempt to seek recusal need to be firmly repulsed and a cost of Rs. 5 lakh is imposed upon Petitioner," said Justice Chanda.

TMC seeks Justice Chanda's recusal on Nandigram

On June 24, the CM's lawyer filed an application before the single-judge bench of Justice Kausik Chanda sking him to recuse himself from the case. TMC has claimed that Justice Chanda ad been affiliated with the BJP till 2018, photos of him along with BJP West Bengal chief Dilip Ghosh at a BJP legal cell event. TMC has alleged that Kausik Chanda, as an advocate, has represented the BJP against the state government in several cases dated 2012, 2013, 2014 till 2018.

Banerjee's counsel too wrote to the secretary of the Acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, seeking reassignment of her petition as she was made aware that Justice Kausik Chanda, who is hearing her plea, was "an active member of the BJP". As per the Calcutta High Court's official website, Chanda was appointed as Additional Solicitor General of India on April 09, 2015 and held that position till September, 2019. Later in October, he was elevated to the Calcutta High Court's Bench as an Additional Judge.

The Nandigram battle

In a bid to protect her home-turf, Mamata Banerjee had battled BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in the place which had catapulted Mamata Banerjee into the CM post in 2011. Miffed by the rising influence of Banerjee's nephew - Abhishek Banerjee and IPAC poll strategist Prashant Kishor in Trinamool, Adhikari along with several other MLAs had switched to BJP. Taking the battle head-on, Banerjee had announced she will contest polls from Nandigram instead of her bastion Bhowanipore, leading to BJP fielding Adhikari. While Nandigram is a Trinamool bastion, it is the Adhikari family - Sisir, Suvendu, Dibyendu and Soumendu which has massive sway in the district - leading to Suvendu's victory over Mamata by a margin of 1737 votes. Suvendu has been rewarded by BJP with his election as Leader of Opposition.