Calcutta HC issues notice to all parties on BJP candidate’s election petition

Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Wednesday issued notices to all parties concerned acting on an election petition filed by Rekha Patra, the BJP candidate from Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal in the last Lok Sabha elections,

On Wednesday, the single-judge bench of Justice Krishna Rao, besides issuing the order to serve notices to all parties concerned directed the preservation of all election-related documents including EVMs, postal ballots and CCTV footage among others.

The next date of hearing in the matter has been scheduled for September 4.

Patra was the first among the two BJP candidates to file an election petition at the Calcutta High Court on June 25 accusing the winning Trinamool Congress candidate Haji Nurul Islam of suppressing information to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and thus adopting an "immoral" stance while contesting the election.

In her petition, she also alleged election malpractices on the polling days. Haji Nurul Islam being the main party in the election petition by Patra, his name is among the parties to whom notices will be served as per the order of the Calcutta High Court.

The BJP candidate from Ghatal Lok Sabha constituency in West Midnapore district Hiran Chatterjee too filed an election petition at Calcutta High Court alleging massive rigging and election malpractices on the polling day.

Chatterjee is currently an elected BJP legislator from the Kharagpur (Sadar) assembly constituency also in the West Midnapore district.