Suppressed information: Suvendu Adhikari moves poll body over Mamata's nomination from Nandigram

In his complaint to the Election Commission (EC), Adhikari claimed that Banerjee suppressed the information about five cases filed against her in Assam and another lodged by the CBI in West Bengal.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari on Monday alleged West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee did not declare criminal cases against her while filing her papers in Nandigram and sought the rejection of her nomination. Adhikari, a former aide of the Trinamool Congress chief, said in his complaint to the Election Commission (EC), Banerjee suppressed the information about five criminal cases filed against her in Assam and another lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in West Bengal.

Suvendu Adhikari joined the BJP in December last year after alleging that the TMC has become corrupt and there is ‘extremely deep rot’ within it. (HT_PRINT)

"The TMC candidate for the Nandigram assembly constituency, the honourable chief minister, in her affidavit has not mentioned at least six cases which are under trial against her. One is a CBI case and five others are in Assam," Adhikari said, according to news agency ANI. "I have appealed to the ECI (for rejecting her nomination). I hope they will take the necessary action. I will wait and see what action they take. The action must be as per the law," Adhikari said.

Adhikari won the Nandigram seat in the 2016 assembly election. The assembly constituency in the state’s Purba Medinipur district is set for a high-octane battle with Banerjee deciding to contest against Adhikari, who switched over to the BJP in December last year.

The West Bengal BJP has also filed a complaint with the returning officer of Nandigram against Banerjee, demanding that her nomination should be rejected for allegedly withholding information about these six cases, ANI reported.

The Supreme Court said in a significant ruling in March 2018 said the returning officer for an election can reject nomination papers of a candidate for non-disclosure and suppression of information, including those related to their assets and criminal background. The top court ruled that voters have a fundamental right to know about their candidates and leaving columns blank in the nomination paper amounts to a violation of their right.

Elections to the 294-member West Bengal assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.