Mamata Banerjee Moves Calcutta High Court Challenging Suvendu Adhikari’s Bhabanipur Election Victory

June 16, 2026 : All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) chief and former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday approached the Calcutta High Court, challenging the election of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and incumbent Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari from the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency.

In her election petition, Banerjee questioned the validity of Adhikari’s victory in the April Assembly election, where he secured 73,917 votes against her 58,812 votes, winning by a margin of 15,105 votes. The matter was mentioned before the Bench of Justice Kaushik Chanda by Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who requested an urgent hearing.

The petition argues that the election result should be set aside on the grounds that the electoral process was allegedly not conducted in a free and fair manner. Banerjee’s challenge is based on allegations she raised before the declaration of results on May 4, claiming irregularities at the counting centre and asserting that her election agents were prevented from entering the premises.

She further alleged that she was assaulted at the counting venue and that her polling agents were denied access during the counting process. These allegations were subsequently denied by the Election Commission of India.

Confirming the filing of the petition, Senior Advocate Kalyan Bandyopadhyay stated that the election process was not conducted properly. He alleged that after 12 rounds of counting, Banerjee and her election agent were assaulted and removed from the counting centre.

According to reports, Banerjee personally visited the Calcutta High Court to file the petition and was accompanied by several Trinamool Congress leaders, including Dola Sen, Derek O’Brien and Kunal Ghosh.

Following the declaration of results on May 4, Banerjee publicly disputed the outcome, alleging that votes had been manipulated and that the electoral mandate had been unfairly taken away from her party.

This is not the first electoral dispute between Banerjee and Adhikari. In 2021, Banerjee filed a similar election petition after losing the Nandigram Assembly constituency to Adhikari. In that contest, Adhikari secured 110,768 votes, while Banerjee received 108,808 votes.