By-elections in Ballygunge and Asansol likely to be held on March 7

Kolkata: The Election Commission is likely to hold by-elections in Ballygunge Assembly constituency and Asansol parliamentary constituency on March 7.

The notification for the polls may come out in the first week of February. Subrata Mukherjee who had won the Ballygunge seat and was serving as the state Panchayats and Rural Development minister died on November 4 last year. So the seat is presently vacant.

In case of Asansol, Babul Supriyo had won the Asansol Lok Sabha seat in BJPs ticket. However, he was fielded by the saffron party from Tollygunge seat in 2021 Assembly polls in which he lost to Trinamool Congress' Aroop Biswas.

Supriyo joined the TMC in September last year and resigned as MP in October following which the Asansol parliamentary seat is also lying vacant.