West Bengal RS by-election on Oct 4
Kolkata/ New Delhi: Rajya Sabha by-election in Bengal for one seat that fell vacant following the resignation of Manas Ranjan Bhunia will be held on October 4, said the Election Commission of India during an announcement on Thursday.
Bhunia, who was a Rajya Sabha MP, resigned and took part in the Assembly elections. He was elected from the Sabang Assembly seat and is now the Minister for Water Resources, Investigation and Development in Mamata Banerjee's Cabinet.
The last date for nomination is September 22. The election will be held on October 4 and counting will take place on the same day.
Trinamool Congress is yet to field a candidate. Jawhar Sircar, a former CEO of Prasar Bharti, was nominated by the TMC in the Rajya Sabha. Two RS seats of TMC had fallen vacant after Dinesh Trivedi resigned and joined the BJP along with Bhunia quitting the post to contest in the Assembly elections. With Trinamool Congress having 213 MLAs, the party nominee is likely to have a cakewalk in the Rajya Sabha by-elections.
Meanwhile, the EC announced dates for bypolls to seven Rajya Sabha seats, including West Bengal, that have fallen vacant due to various reasons like resignations, death and end of the tenure of members.
According to a notification issued by the EC, there are two such seats in Tamil Nadu and one each in West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Madhya Pradesh.
The Madhya Pradesh Rajya Sabha (RS) seat got vacant after BJP leader and former Union Cabinet minister Thaawarchand Gehlot was elevated as the Karnataka Governor in July.
The polls to all these seven seats will take place on October 4, the EC said.
The two seats in Tamil Nadu fell vacant due to the resignation of AIADMK leaders K P Munusamy and R Vaithilingam who are now members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.
In Assam, the seat held by Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary fell vacant after he resigned from the membership of the Upper House of Parliament and his earlier party, the Bodoland People's Front, and joined the BJP before the recent polls in the state.
The BJP may field Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal from the Assam seat as he is yet to become a member of either House of Parliament.
The Maharashtra seat got vacant due to the death of Congress leader Rajeev Satav in May this year due to COVID-19 infection.
In Puducherry, the RS seat will fall vacant soon as the term of incumbent member N Gokulakrishnan ends on October 6.
The EC said in its order that all "broad guidelines of COVID-19" have to be followed during the election process, that is from the time of issue of notification to the counting of votes.
