Bypolls for Assembly seats can be held alongside RS polls: State tells ECI
KOLKATA: The by-election in seven Assembly seats, including Bhowanipore, may be held soon. In reply to a suggestion sought by the Election Commission of India to conduct the elections for the two Rajya Sabha seats, the Bengal government has stated that the bypolls in seven Assembly constituencies can also be held along with the elections for the Rajya Sabha seats.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had also stated on June 23 that the by-polls in the seven seats could be held at the earliest with the Covid situation mostly under control in Bengal. She had also stated that the by-polls in seven seats can be held even by giving seven days time for campaigning. But it has to be held before the third wave approaches. Sources in the state Secretariat confirmed that the ECI had been informed that the Rajya Sabha polls can be easily conducted as the Assembly is in session.
The elections in the two seats of Rajya Saha would be held as former TMC MP Dinesh Trivedi had tendered resignation in February after switching over to the BJP. Manas Bhunia, who is now the state Water Resources minister, stepped down from Rajya Sabha after being elected as a TMC MLA from Sabang Assembly constituency. By-polls in the state will be held in seven seats, including Bhowanipore, Khardah, Gosaba, Dinhata, Shantipur, Shamserganj and Jangipur.
Mamata Banerjee, who became the Chief Minister for the third consecutive term after her party's landslide victory, may contest from Bhowanipore. She needs to win a by-poll within six months to become a member of the state's Legislative Assembly and remain in the post. She was declared defeated from Nandigram by a slender margin of 1,956 votes. State Agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chatterjee has resigned as MLA from Bhowanipore. As a result, he would now be contesting from Khardah Assembly segment in North 24-Parganas where the by-poll would be conducted as TMC's nominee Kajal Sinha, who was declared as a winning candidate on May 2, had passed away due to Covid a few days after the election.
By-polls will be held at South 24-Parganas' Gosaba due to the death of TMC MLA Jayanta Naskar. There will be by-polls in Dinhata and Shantipur Assembly constituencies as BJP MPs Nisith Pramanik and Jagannath Sarkar had refused to continue as MLAs. By-polls will also be held at Samsherganj and Jangipur seats in Murshidabad where the elections could not be held on scheduled date due to the passing away of Congress candidate Rezaul Haque and RSP candidate Pradip Nandi from respective seats due to Covid.
