Nearly a month-and-a-half after her defeat in the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday filed an election petition in the Calcutta High Court, challenging the election result.

The TMC chief had lost to her aide-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari by 15,105 votes. The victory in Bhabanipur, considered Mamata’s stronghold, propelled Adhikari to become the first BJP minister of the state.

A day after the TMC’s crushing defeat in the Assembly elections, ending the party’s 15-year-rule in the state, a defiant Mamata, in a press conference at her Kalighat residence, on May 5 refused to submit her resignation to the Governor, alleging “looting of votes” by the BJP “through EVM manipulation”.

She alleged that TMC candidates, including herself, were assaulted.

“We have not been defeated. I have not been defeated. I will not resign. There is no question of my going to the Raj Bhavan,” she had said. “In this election, the BJP and the Election Commission played a dirty game. They forcefully grabbed votes,” she had alleged.

“I was assaulted inside the counting centre. They hit me in my belly and on my back. I was not allowed to enter. My agent was also not allowed to enter. If such atrocities happened against me, imagine what happened with other candidates,” the TMC supremo claimed.

Alleging EVM manipulation, Mamata had said, “How can EVMs have 90 per cent, 95 per cent battery (during counting). We have all the proof.”

On Tuesday, Mamata, accompanied by TMC leaders Dola Sen, Derek O Brien, and Kunal Ghosh, reached the Calcutta High Court around 2 pm to file the petition. Unlike last month, when she had appeared in the High Court wearing a lawyer’s gown to argue a case related to post-poll violence, Mamata on Tuesday wore her trademark white saree.

Speaking to mediapersons, TMC MP and senior counsel Kalyan Banerjee said, “Mamata Banerjee had come to Calcutta High Court to affirm the election petition filed by her challenging the election of Suvendu Adhikari (from Bhabanipur). After the 12th round of the counting of votes, she and her election agent were beaten up.

Referring to the TMC chief’s defeat in Nandigram in the 2021 Assembly elections, Kalyan Banerjee said, “The RO (Returning Officer) was the same person who was the RO in Nandigram in 2021.”

This is not the first time the TMC chief has challenged an election result. She had challenged Adhikari’s victory in Nandigram, where she lost by just 1,960 votes.

The TMC chief, in her petition in the High Court, had accused Adhikari of committing corrupt practices under Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. According to the petition, the alleged corrupt practices included “bribery, undue influence, spreading enmity”. Banerjee also claimed in her plea that discrepancies were committed in the counting process.

The case is still pending in the Calcutta High Court.