Local Trinamool leader Sheikh Sufian was present at the hearing of the Nandigram case in the Calcutta High Court on Thursday.

Trinamool candidate Mamata Banerjee's election agent in the Assembly polls Sufian said in the High Court premises, "The counting of votes has been rigged. We spoke to the Returning Officer about the recount. He did not agree. That is why I have come to the High Court. Besides, he also demanded a hearing of the Nandigram case in the bench of a‘ neutral judge."

Sufian, a Trinamool member of East Midnapore District Council, alleged that the counting was postponed for three hours as planned on May 2. The counting was stopped for an hour citing problems in the server.

"We demanded a written recount on the allegations of fraud," but the Returning Officer wrote to us, 'I can't recalculate'." Sufian claimed that BJP candidate Shuvendu Adhikari won against Mamata in Nandigram by falsifying the count.

Kaushik Chanda, the acting judge in the Nandigram case, was the former head of the BJP's legal cell. Asked to comment about this, Sufian said, "If anyone even has the faintest connection to politics, it is better not to hand him the responsibility of justice."