Mamata Banerjee was on Wednesday fined ₹ 5 lakh by Calcutta High Court judge Kaushik Chanda, who exited a case involving her petition challenging the election of the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari. The Bengal Chief Minister had asked the judge to quit the case over “conflict of interest”.

Before exiting the case, the judge made a series of angry observations, accusing Ms Banerjee of a “preplanned move to malign a judge” and of violating her constitutional duty.

“Such calculative, psychological and offensive attempt to seek recusal need to be firmly repulsed and a cost of ₹ 5 lakh is imposed upon Petitioner,” Justice Chanda said in the order.

Mamata Banerjee wanted the case to be reassigned to a different court as she alleged Justice Chanda has links with the BJP and would be biased. The case will now be referred to Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal, who has to reassign it.

In a letter to the Chief Justice on June 16, Ms Banerjee had said that Justice Chanda was associated with the BJP in the past. Her letter said there was “reasonable apprehension of bias… in favour of the respondent (Suvendu Adhikari)…”, who is also from the BJP.

Ms Banerjee also said she feared bias because in April she had objected to Justice Chanda’s confirmation as a permanent judge at Calcutta High Court.

“Justice must not only be done; it must also be seen to be done,” she added, as she underlined the need to “sustain the confidence of the public in the judiciary”.

Ms Banerjee’s petition challenges the election result in Bengal’s Nandigram, where she lost to Suvendu Adhikari, her former aide-turned-BJP leader.