Kolkata | Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday filed an election petition before the Calcutta High Court, challenging the poll result in the Bhabanipur assembly seat, which she lost to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari.
Adhikari, who later became the chief minister, defeated Banerjee by a margin of 15,105 votes in the seat.
TMC sources said that Banerjee went to the high court registry to "affirm" the petition challenging the result.
The former chief minister did not reply to reporters' questions when she left the high court premises.
Counting of votes of the West Bengal assembly election was held on May 4.
After the saffron party's resounding victory in the West Bengal Assembly polls, Adhikari went on to become the first BJP chief minister of the state.
Following her defeat to Adhikari in the 2021 assembly election in Nandigram constituency, Banerjee filed an election petition against the BJP leader.
The matter is pending before the Calcutta High Court.
The TMC chief had won the Bhabanipur assembly seat in a bypoll in 2021 after party MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay vacated the seat to facilitate her election and retain her position as the chief minister of West Bengal.
Kolkata | Fissures within the TMC were again on display in the West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday, with MLAs loyal to Mamata Banerjee not invited to an all-party meeting convened ahead of the Budget Session, while members of the party's rebel camp led by Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee received invitations.
The development comes at a time when the TMC, despite emerging as the principal opposition force in the Assembly, is grappling with an unprecedented internal rebellion that has altered the balance of power within the legislature.
The Budget Session is scheduled to commence on June 18.
Ahead of it, the Assembly's all-party and Business Advisory Committee meetings assumed added significance amid the ongoing tussle over leadership within the opposition benches.
According to Assembly sources, veteran TMC MLA and the party's official nominee for Leader of the Opposition, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, was not invited to the meeting. Beliaghata MLA Kunal Ghosh was also absent from the invite list.
Instead, invitations were extended to the camp led by expelled TMC MLA Ritabrata Banerjee, who was recently recognised by Speaker Rathindranath Basu as the Leader of the Opposition after a majority of rebel TMC legislators backed his claim.
Political observers said the move signalled that the Assembly establishment has begun according recognition to the emerging numerical realities inside the House.
The development follows a dramatic rebellion within the TMC legislature party.
Only days ago, 58 of the party's 80 MLAs defied the leadership and extended support to Banerjee's claim for the post of Leader of the Opposition, rejecting the party high command's choice of Chattopadhyay.
Since then, the strength of the rebel camp has reportedly risen to 65 legislators, further consolidating Banerjee's position within the Assembly.
The all-party meeting was attended by representatives of various opposition formations, including ISF MLA Naushad Siddiqui, Am Janata Unnayan Party MLA Humayun Kabir and CPI(M) MLA Mustafizur Rahaman.
The Assembly developments come against the backdrop of wider turbulence within the TMC's parliamentary ranks as well.
In Parliament, the party recently faced a major setback after 20 of its 28 Lok Sabha MPs reportedly broke away from the TMC Parliamentary Party and decided to merge with the National Citizens Party of India (NCPI), while extending support to the BJP-led NDA.
The twin rebellions in the Assembly and Parliament have significantly weakened the party leadership's grip over its elected representatives and raised questions over the future shape of the opposition space in both Kolkata and New Delhi.
For now, Tuesday's all-party meeting offered another visible reminder that the contest within the TMC is no longer confined to party forums but is increasingly shaping institutional arrangements inside the legislature itself.
With the Budget Session set to begin in two days, attention will now turn to whether the new opposition arithmetic translates into a formal realignment on the Assembly floor.
