Kolkata: Two BJP candidates who unsuccessfully contested the recent Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal filed petitions in the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday demanding scrapping of the elections in their respective constituencies.
The petitions have been accepted by the high court and the matter is expected to come up for hearing next week.
The petitions have been filed by Rekha Patra, who contested the polls from Basirhat in North 24 Parganas district, and actor-politician Hiran Chatterjee, whom the BJP fielded from Ghatal in West Midnapore district.
While Patra was the face of the women’s movement in Sandeshkhali against alleged sexual harassment and extortion by a section of the local Trinamool Congress leaders, Chatterjee is the BJP legislator from the Kharagpur-Sadar Assembly constituency in West Midnapore district.
Incidentally, the elected Trinamool MPs from Ghatal and Basirhat, actor-turned-politician Deb and Haji Nurul Islam, respectively, were absent during the swearing-in ceremony of the newly-elected Lok Sabha members in the Parliament on Tuesday.
In her plea, Patra accused Haji Nurul Islam of suppressing information from the Election Commission. Her counsel Suryanil Das claimed the Trinamool candidate adopted an “immoral stance” while contesting the elections.
“The Commission also seemed to have overlooked it. We want the truth to be revealed,” Das said.
After the results of the Lok Sabha polls were declared on June 4, the leader of opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, had said that election petitions will be filed demanding the scrapping of polls in Basirhat and Ghatal.
–IANS