Mamta Banerjee Objects To Justice Kausik Chanda Hearing Election Petition

Overview

• The Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamta Banerjee wrote a letter to the Acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court Rajesh Bindal, urging him to reassign the election petition filed by her to another judge instead of Justice Kausik Chanda to avoid prejudice against her.
• The letter was written by Advocate-on-Record Sanjay Basu on behalf of CM Banerjee, in connection with the Election Petition filed by her.
• The Election Petition challenges Suvendu Adhikari’s win in the election in the West Bengal Assembly Polls from the Nandigram constituency.
• The Bench of Hon’ble Justice Kausik Chanda listed the matter for next week on Thursday, June 24 after Counsel for CM Banerjee urged the Court for the same.

What did the Letter state

• The letter written by AOR Basu wrote that there was a reasonable apprehension in the mind of his client (CM Banerjee) regarding the biases on the part of the Judge despite her faith in the Judicial System.
• The letter listed down a couple of reasons, beginning with the fact that Justice Chanda was an active member of BJP and due to this reason, it is obvious that there will be apprehension in the mind of Basu’s Client that there will be a bias on the part of the Hon’ble Judge in favour of Respondent.
• The letter further stated that Justice Chanda was not yet confirmed as a permanent Judge of Calcutta High Court and CM Banerjee’s views were sought by the Chief Justice relating to that matter, to which she had objected. CM Banerjee apprehended that the Judge knew about her objection and this too will be the reason for the likelihood of bias on the Judge’s part.
• The letter further states that as the Respondent, Suvendu Adhikari was a BJP member and the Judge was an active BJP member, it will cause Justice Chanda to be a “Judge in his own case.”
• Lastly, the letter sought the reassigning of the Election Petition to sustain the confidence of the public in the Judicial System.

What do you think of this case?