The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed the preservation of all election-related records, including CCTV footage, EVMs and VVPATs, in connection with former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s petition challenging the result of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election from the Bhawanipore constituency.
Hearing the election petition, Justice Gaurang Kanth ordered that no records linked to the counting process be destroyed or altered without the court’s permission. The matter will now come up for hearing again after two months.
Before the proceedings began, Justice Kanth disclosed that his brother is a spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and asked whether either side had any objection to the matter being heard by his Bench. “Mr Kalyan Banerjee, my brother is a spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Therefore, I wish to place this fact on record before hearing the matter. Will either side have any difficulty if this Bench hears the case?” the judge asked.
Appearing for Mamata Banerjee, senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee replied: “We have complete faith in Your Lordship. You are one of the most distinguished judges of the Calcutta High Court. We have no objection whatsoever.”
The petition was filed by Mamata Banerjee on 16 June after she lost the Bhawanipore seat to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari by 15,114 votes in the 2026 Assembly election. The defeat marked a major political reversal for the Trinamool Congress leader and paved the way for a change of government in West Bengal.
In her petition, Mamata Banerjee has alleged irregularities in the counting process and sought judicial scrutiny of the election result. She has requested the court to examine evidence related to the counting operation conducted at Sakhawat Memorial School, the designated counting centre for the constituency.
During the hearing, Kalyan Banerjee argued that the counting process remained uncontroversial until the completion of the twelfth round. According to him, the pattern of voting changed dramatically from the thirteenth round onwards. “Everything was normal till the twelfth round of counting. As soon as the thirteenth round began, election agents of Suvendu Adhikari entered the counting centre. Thereafter, an extraordinary shift in the results became visible,” he submitted.
He further alleged that the Trinamool Congress had been leading by nearly 7,000 votes after twelve rounds, but that the trend reversed sharply thereafter. “After the twelfth round, more than 80 per cent of the votes suddenly started going in favour of Suvendu Adhikari. How did he receive 81 per cent of the votes from the thirteenth round onwards? We seek preservation of the CCTV footage and VVPAT records. We will demonstrate through charts how the result was altered,” Kalyan Banerjee argued.
The court subsequently directed the Returning Officer to preserve all records associated with the counting process conducted on 4 May, including EVMs, VVPAT slips and CCTV footage from inside and outside Sakhawat Memorial School. Justice Kanth also directed that the footage remain protected until further orders of the court and made it clear that no material connected to the election process should be destroyed.
The petition assumes significance because it mirrors a legal challenge mounted by Mamata Banerjee after her defeat to Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram during the 2021 Assembly election. That election petition remains pending before the High Court.
Under current Election Commission regulations, CCTV and webcasting data are ordinarily preserved for 45 days after declaration of results, while VVPAT slips are retained for one year. However, where an election result is challenged in court and judicial directions are issued, the records must be preserved until the legal proceedings are concluded.
