Calcutta High Court Orders EC to Preserve Bhowanipore Counting Centre CCTV, EVMs and VVPATs in Mamata Banerjee Election Petition
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the Election Commission to preserve CCTV footage of the counting centre, EVMs and VVPATs of all booths under Bhowanipore assembly constituency. The court was hearing a petition filed by former CM Mamata Banerjee, challenging her loss to CM Suvendu
By Subrata Chattoraj,srishti Lakhotia
Kolkata: The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the Election Commission to preserve CCTV footage of the counting centre, EVMs and VVPATs of all booths under Bhowanipore assembly constituency.
The court was hearing a petition filed by former CM Mamata Banerjee, challenging her loss to CM Suvendu Adhikari in Bhowanipore by 15, 105 votersJustice Gaurang Kanth directed that CCTV footage, EVMs and VVPATs be not erased, overwritten, destroyed, tampered with, transferred, redeployed, opened or dealt with in any manner without the permission of the court.
EVMs used at all polling stations of the constituency has to be kept in the custody of the district election officer till final disposal of the petition, the HC said.
The judge held, “Failure to preserve the same may result in loss of evidence which may be relevant at the trial of the petition.”Hearing the petition, which mentions 17 respondents including Suvendu and the EC, the HC directed the respondents’ counsel to file their affidavits in opposition within four weeks and an affidavit in reply by the petitioner within four weeks thereafter.
The matter will come up for hearing again after 12 weeks.During Tuesday’s hearing, an interesting exchange took place in the court when Justice Kanth told Mamata Banerjee’s counsel Kalyan Banerjee: “My elder brother is a national spokesperson for BJP.”Kalyan replied, “I have been informed about this.
I told them that I am not concerned about it.
I know my judge, I know him very well.
I have pleaded several cases before you and my confidence in you as a judge will not be determined by any other factor.”“A judge is never prejudiced,” Justice Kanth replied.Arguing the case, Kalyan said that trouble started on the counting day with Suvendu’s entry into the centre during the 13th round when Trinamool agents were allegedly beaten and Mamata was not allowed inside. “All of a sudden, from the 13th round, an unimaginable margin started to emerge.
The machine’s charge changed from 18% to 81%.
CCTV footage will reveal everything.
The returning officer in Bhowanipore was the returning officer in the 2021 election at Nandigram also,” he submitted.You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Kolkata | Silver Rate in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata | Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Petrol Price in Kolkata | Diesel Price in Kolkata | CNG Price in Kolkata | LPG Price in KolkataStay updated with the latest Kolkata news.
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