New Delhi, Nov 11 (PTI) The Supreme Court Thursday directed its registry not to delete from the list of cases for hearing the plea of BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari seeking transfer of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's petition challenging his election from Nandigram constituency outside West Bengal.

Adhikari, presently holding the post of the leader of opposition in the state assembly, has defeated Banerjee in closely-contested polls from the Nandigram assembly seat by a margin of 1,956 votes.

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A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana was urged by senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for Adhikari, that the plea seeking transfer of Banerjee's case outside West Bengal has not been listed so far and be not deleted from the list of cases of hearing on November 15.

“Upon being orally mentioned by the learned senior counsel appearing for the petitioner stating that the said matter is tentatively shown to be listed on November 15, 2021, and prays that the matter may not be deleted, in view of the request made, the Registry is directed not to delete the said matter which is likely to be listed on the said date,” ordered the bench which also comprised justices A S Bopanna and Hima Kohli.

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The BJP leader, who was once considered a very close political associate of the chief minister, has invoked Section 25 of the Civil Procedure Code which deals with the power of the Supreme Court to transfer lawsuits.

Under the provision, the top court, after hearing the parties, “may, at any stage, if satisfied that an order under this section is expedient for the ends of justice, direct that any suit, appeal or other proceeding be transferred from a High Court or other Civil Court in one State to a High Court or other Civil Court in another State”.

Earlier on July 14 this year, the BJP leader had moved the top court seeking transfer of Banerjee's petition challenging his election from Nandigram constituency outside West Bengal.

He seeks transfer of Banerjee's plea, pending in the Calcutta High Court, outside the state.

The election petition of the chief minister is presently being heard by a bench of Justice Shampa Sarkar of the high court and it has issued notice to Adhikari in the matter.

Earlier on July 7, Justice Kausik Chanda of the high court had recused himself from hearing Banerjee's petition challenging the election of Adhikari from Nandigram.

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

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.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)