Justice Kausik Chanda recuses himself from hearing Mamata's poll plea

Justice Kausik Chanda of Calcutta High Court Wednesday recused himself from hearing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's petition challenging the election of Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram

Justice Kausik Chanda of the

Calcutta High Court Wednesday recused himself from hearing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's petition challenging the election of Suvendu Adhikari from Nandigram.

Justice Chanda had on June 24 reserved order on Banerjee's application that the judge recuses himself from hearing her election petition apprehending bias on his part.

Justice Chanda released the election petition of Banerjee from his court.

The matter will be referred to Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal for assigning it to a different bench.

Seeking his recusal, it was claimed that Justice Chanda was an active member of the BJP till his appointment as the Additional Solicitor General of India in 2015 and since the election of a BJP candidate has been challenged, there were apprehensions of bias in the adjudication of the election petition.

Justice Chanda had said that he was never a convenor of the BJP Legal Cell, but had appeared in many cases representing the party before the Calcutta High Court.

Banerjee's counsel had earlier written to the Acting Chief Justice of the high court seeking reassignment of her election petition to another bench.