Kolkata: Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi wrote to the Election Commission of India (ECI) urging to hold the bypolls in seven Assembly segments before Durga Puja.
He wrote the letter following discussions with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
This comes after Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra held a virtual meeting with the Chief Secretary in presence of senior officials of state CEO (Chief Electoral Officer) office to take stock of the situation and the preparedness of the state for the bypolls.
Sources said that the state government has informed that the Covid situation is the state along with all the seven Assembly constituencies - Bhowanipore, Khardah, Gosaba, Dinhata, Shantipur, Shamserganj and Jangipur – is under control. There is not a single Covid positive case in most of these Assembly segments when the Covid positivity rate in the state has dropped to nearly 1 percent. It went up to 33 percent during the eighth phase of the Assembly polls. At the same time 80 percent of the urban population has already been vaccinated.
It has also been stated that both police personnel and poll workers have already been vaccinated. It has been suggested to complete the election process before Mahalaya that is on October 6.Elections can be conducted on the 24th day after the announcement of the polling dates, as per the ECI rules. Generally, the commission retains 10 days for taking the preparatory steps and the candidates get 14 days of time to campaign. Sources also said that even a large section within the commission is willing to complete the poll process by the end of September.
Meanwhile, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Calcutta High Court seeking immediate by-elections in seven Assembly constituencies in the state.
A Division Bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj, is likely to hear the case next week.
The petitioner, Advocate R Sarkar, claimed that almost four months have passed since the results of the WB Assembly Polls 2021.
But no action has been taken in the by-elections.