Kolkata: Mamata Banerjee had cried foul the day counting of votes for the West Bengal Assembly elections took place, accusing the BJP of “looting” more than 100 seats.
About a month-and-a-half after that fateful day when Mamata lost to Suvendu Adhikari from her bastion Bhabanipur and Trinamool Congress (TMC) was soundly beaten by the BJP across the state, the three-time former chief minister moved the Calcutta High Court challenging the result.
Mamata, who lost by a margin of 15,105 votes, herself went to the court for the filing of the petition.
Advocate Kalyan Banerjee, who is a TMC Lok Sabha MP, said Mamata was at the Calcutta High Court to “affirm the election petition”.
#WATCH | Former West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC Chairperson Mamata Banerjee arrives at Calcutta High Court. https://t.co/M0hNSTl9aW pic.twitter.com/1YEYke9QA2
— ANI (@ANI) June 16, 2026
Kalyan explained that the petition has been filed by Mamata challenging the election of Suvendu Adhikari because the election has been done ‘improperly’.
“After 12 rounds, her election agent and she were beaten up and thrown away. Who is the RO (Returning Officer)? He was the RO of Nandigram election in 2021. He was again brought in 2026 as an RO. Later, he was made a Deputy Secretary of the CM. The Chief Election Officer of the state (Manoj Agarwal) was made Chief Secretary right after the election. There were several allegations against them, and reasonable likelihood of bias is there. Please wait, let’s see what is going to happen,” Kalyan told reporters.
Mamata and her party are facing an existential crisis after 60 (out of 80) MLAs and 20 (out of 28) MPs revolted, deciding to form separate entities.
The former West Bengal CM had challenged the 2021 Nandigram result too, after losing to Suvendu despite TMC winning the election.
That case has still not been disposed, and now, after five years, Mamata has filed another petition challenging the result.