Kolkata: TMC MLA from Gosaba Jayanta Naskar (73) died at around 8.40 pm on Saturday at a private hospital in South Kolkata even after recovering from Covid. He suffered a cardiac arrest.
He was infected with Covid in May after the election results were out and had various other complications. He was undergoing treatment at the hospital for more than a month. He had tested negative for the virus on Friday following which he was shifted to the non-Covid ward. He had been suffering from various post-Covid complications. Despite recovering from the virus, Naskar succumbed to other ailments.
Condoling his death, Mamata Banerjee tweeted: "Heartfelt condolences to the family & supporters of Jayanta Naskar. Deeply pained at this colossal loss. As a 3-time MLA from Gosaba, he had dedicated his life towards serving people & was always with us through our many struggles. He will be remembered dearly."
He has been the MLA since 2011. This time, he had defeated his nearest rival by more than 30,000 votes.
With the death of Naskar, by-polls need to be held in five Assembly constituencies.
There will be a by-poll at the Gosaba Assembly segment due to this mishap along with Khardah in North 24-Parganas as TMC's nominee Kajal Sinha, who was declared as a winning candidate on May 2, passed away due to Covid a few days after the election. There will also be by-polls in Bhowanipore as state Agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay resigned as an MLA from the seat. Again, BJP MP Nisith Pramanik and Jagannath Sarkar had refused to continue as MLAs despite winning. As a result, there will be by-polls in Dinhata and Shantipur Assembly constituencies as well.
It needs to be mentioned that the Election Commission had announced deferment of polls for an indefinite period in Samsherganj and Jangipur seats in Murshidabad due to the surge in Covid cases. The elections were scheduled to be held on April 26 after the deaths of Congress candidate from Samsherganj Rezaul Haque and RSP candidate Pradip Nandi from Jangipur due to Covid.