The lawyer believes some Bermudians may have been robbed of the right to vote because of Tuesday's postponement of the poll until the next day.

"For whatever reason they may have been unable to vote on the new date,'' said Mr. Perinchief.

Clearly there was not enough advance notice for this date.'' Now Progressive Labour Party member Mr. Perinchief is battling for Chief Justice the Hon. Mr. Justice Ward to hear the case, he said.

"I want the referendum result declared invalid, so that we will start over again.'' Mr. Perinchief's arguments stem from Tuesday's confusion brought on by hurricane Felix, which caused an estimated $2.5 million damage on the Island.

The 20 polling stations were due to open at 10 a.m. and close at 9 p.m., but the stormy weather forced a controversial postponement.

Returning officers from the Government Administration Building went to the stations in the early afternoon, and immediately adjourned voting at each one until 10 a.m. the next day.

Earlier Cabinet Secretary Mr. Leopold Mills had announced on the radio that the referendum was postponed indefinitely.

Yesterday, Mr. Perinchief argued the polls, once opened on Tuesday, should have remained so until 9 p.m.

In his opinion, there was no great worsening of the weather conditions between the early afternoon and evening.

And if the weather was good enough to open the polling stations, it was not bad enough to close them early.

"If need be, the stations could have been opened a few hours the following day for those who had missed out in the morning,'' Mr. Perinchief said.

He added: "The fact is the stations were opened and the public was invited to vote on that day.'' Mr. Perinchief has entered a writ in the Supreme Court register against the Attorney General -- Government's lawyer.

It is aimed at getting a so-called declaratory induction against the referendum which saw a 73 percent "no'' vote against Independence.

After hearing Mr. Perinchief's application on Wednesday, the Chief Justice adjourned the case to allow the Government side to prepare its case.

Asked whether his arguments -- if proven -- would produce a different referendum outcome, Mr. Perinchief declined to speculate.

Mr. Perinchief, who has not rules out quitting the PLP under its leader Mr.

Frederick Wade following the party's referendum boycott campaign, also lashed out at yesterday's confusion in the counting of the ballots.

The outcome was delayed by several hours amid claims the court was out by 58 votes.

It led to Parliamentary Register Mrs. Marlene Christopher call Attorney General Mr. Elliott Mottley into the counting room for advice, and delaying the announcement of the result until about 6:30 a.m.

Mr. Perinchief yesterday called for an official investigation into the balloting chaos.

While it as unrelated to his writ, it did suggest the referendum result was flawed, he said.