The Calcutta High Court on Tuesday directed chief minister Suvendu Adhikari to respond within four weeks to an election petition filed by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee challenging his victory from Bhabanipur and ordered the preservation of CCTV footage of the counting hall as well as voting machines of all polling stations in the constituency.Kolkata: TMC chairperson Mamata Banerjee takes part in a protest march against hawker eviction without rehabilitation, in Kolkata, on June 17 (PTI)Before Tuesday’s proceedings started, justice Gaurang Kanth disclosed that his brother was the BJP’s national spokesperson and enquired if the petitioner had concerns about his hearing the case“My elder brother is a national spokesperson for the Bharatiya Janata Party… I will hear it only after full disclosure so that you don’t have any issues later,” justice Kanth told senior advocate and TMC Lok Sabha member Kalyan Banerjee, who appeared for Mamata Banerjee.Kalyan Banerjee told the court that he had no objection to the judge hearing the petition, underlining that he did not feel that anyone would be a factor in the judge’s decision.Justice Kant agreed. “We are here to dispense justice, (It) doesn’t matter to us”.Mamata Banerjee filed the petition on June 16, challenging her defeat to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in the April 29 assembly polls from the Bhabanipur assembly seat, where Adhikari defeated her by 15,105 votes and became chief minister after the results were announced on May 4. Banerjee alleged at the time that the polls were rigged and the counting was manipulated.On Tuesday, justice Kanth observed that Banerjee’s petition prima facie complied with the provisions of the Representation of the People Act and thus there was no ground to dismiss it.“The court directed the respondents to file affidavits within four weeks and asked us to file our reply in another four weeks,” Kalyan Banerjee told the media after the hearing. The matter will be listed for hearing after 12 weeks, he said.“The court directed that all security camera footage from the counting centre, the electronic voting machines and the VVPAT (Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machines should be preserved for the hearing,” Banerjee added.This was the second time Mamata Banerjee was defeated by Adhikari in five years. She lost the Nandigram seat to him by 1,956 votes in 2021 and challenged the results in court. That case is still pending.Kalyan Banerjee referred to the Nandigram election during Tuesday’s hearing, pointing that the Bhabanipur returning officer in 2026 was the block development officer in Nandigram during the 2021 elections when Mamata lost to Suvendu.He also complained that there were massive irregularities during counting on May 4 at Bhabanipur and that the returning officer has since then been posted in the chief minister’s office after the new government was sworn in.