Mamata moves high court challenging Bhowanipore loss
Times of India | 17 June 2026
KOLKATA: Former chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday moved Calcutta High Court challenging CM Suvendu Adhikari's win from Bhowanipore in the 2026 assembly elections, citing "reasonable likelihood of bias" by Election Commission officials. Adhikari won the seat by over 15,000 votes.
Mamata reached the high court accompanied by Trinamool joint national secretaries Derek O'Brien and Dola Sen, senior lawyer and MP Kalyan Banerjee and Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh. She did not speak to the media on her way in and out.
Kalyan said the Trinamool chief had come to the court to affirm the election petition filed by her.
"After 12 rounds, she and her election agent were beaten up and thrown out. Who was the (Bhowanipore) returning officer? The same person as the RO of Nandigram (Surajit Roy) during 2021 assembly polls He was brought to Bhowanipore in 2026 as the RO. Later, he was made a deputy secretary of CM. The CEO (Manoj Agarwal) was made chief secretary right after the election. There were several allegations against them. Reasonable likelihood of bias is there," Kalyan said.
Mamata had held the Bhowanpore seat since 2011, when Trinamool came to office for first time. In the 2026 state polls, Suvendu wrested the seat securing 73,917 votes against Mamata's 58,812.
She alleged that on counting day she was attacked and the CCTVs at the counting centre switched off. She claimed her party's agents were not allowed to enter the counting station.
This is Mamata's second election petition in five years. On July 7, 2021, she had filed a petition challenging her loss to Suvendu in Nandigram by 1,956 votes.
Justice Kausik Chanda had recused himself from hearing the petition due to a recusal plea filed by the Trinamool chief. As per court records, the case was last heard on Dec 1, 2021 by Justice Shampa Sarkar and adjourned till Jan 7, 2022, over "pendency of the transfer application before the apex court".
A senior Trinamool MP said the party plans to file multiple petitions challenging the 2026 assembly results. "One of the first will be BJP's Rajarhat win by 316 votes, lowest in the 2026 state polls," the MP said.
State junior parliamentary affairs minister Umesh Rai said, "Mamata never accepts any outcome that goes against her. In Nandigram, she lost the election. She had left Kolkata and gone to Nandigram to contest but after losing she claimed a power cut was used to defeat her, and went to court. This time she lost the election in her stronghold. She does not have a single piece of evidence to support her allegations."