The result of the Assembly polls for the Rajarhat New Town constituency is being challenged in court.

“We have moved high court on Tuesday to seek a recount under the supervision of the court,” Tapash Chatterjee, the former MLA and Trinamul Congress candidate, told The Telegraph Salt Lake on Wednesday. He will be represented by advocate and party MP Kalyan Banerjee, who is also standing for the former chief minister Mamata Banerjee in her demand for a recount for the Bhabanipur seat.

The Rajarhat New Town seat recorded the narrowest margin of victory — 316 votes — in this Assembly election in Bengal and went in favour of BJP candidate Piyush Kanodia after a recount.

“We have filed a case, submitting proof of malpractice in counting,” said Chatterjee. Counting had continued for over 30 hours, and allegations were levelled of intimidation, whereby the CPM and the TMC counting agents were reportedly forced to abandon their posts in the counting hall.

Asked why there was over a month’s delay — the counting had taken place on May 4 — Chatterjee replied: “It is not enough to just turn up and seek a recount in court. We needed time to gather proof and specify for which booths we suspect malpractice.”

The Rajarhat New Town seat had remained undecided overnight on May 4. The Election Commission of India (ECI) website had shown Chatterjee leading by 323 votes after 17 rounds. Chatterjee had alleged that counting was over but he was kept waiting and not handed the winner’s certificate.

The next morning, a recount of the last three rounds was held on a demand by Kanodia, which was confirmed to The Telegraph Salt Lake by the returning officer, Md Alimuddin. “Today, the last three rounds — Round 15, 16 and 17 — were recounted,” he had said on May 5, adding that the 18th round was not included in the overnight figures. His phone had disconnected — and remained switched off — before more questions could be asked, as reported by The Telegraph Salt Lake on May 8. Both Chatterjee and CPM’s Saptarshi Deb had confirmed their absence at the recount.

In the 18th round, the figures for which were added on the ECI website on May 5 afternoon, BJP polled 637 out of the 656 votes counted, while TMC got five votes. Congress got more — seven votes. This took Kanodia’s aggregate votes to 1,06,564, past Chatterjee’s count of 1,06,248. “In that round, the CPM got just one vote. I asked the CPM polling agent: ‘Did your wife also not vote for your party?” Chatterjee said sarcastically.

In fact, when the result was first flashed on the ECI website at 1.36pm, Chatterjee was shown to have got 1,06,255 votes — an addition of five votes from his Round 17 aggregate — making 309 his margin of loss. It was revised minutes later, reducing his votes to two less than his aggregate till Round 17, and the margin became 316.

The 18th round of counting reportedly comprised a single booth in Jagadishpur, in a Muslim-majority area. The overwhelming support there for the BJP, therefore, has raised eyebrows.