Bypolls for 4 assembly seats on Sept 30
NEW DELHI: By-polls to four assembly seats, including West Bengal’s Bhabanipur where Mamata Banerjee is expected to contest as she needs to get elected to the state assembly by November to continue as the chief minister, will be held on September 30, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Saturday.
Banerjee took oath as the chief minister on May 5 and needs to be elected within six months to retain the post. Her Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept to power for the third time this summer by winning 213 out of the 292 seats for which polls were held in eight phases in March and April. But Banerjee lost the polls from Nandigram to her protégé-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by a narrow margin of 1,956 votes.
TMC has been pressing for holding the bypolls as soon as possible. It has been critical of the ECI over the delay in announcing the schedule for them. In June, Banerjee said the election watchdog was awaiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s instructions to hold the by-elections.
A delegation of TMC parliamentarians met the ECI on July 15, seeking the by-polls at the earliest.
The schedule was announced days after the ECI sought inputs on 30 constituencies across the country in view of the pandemic.
KOLKATA: Bypolls to four assembly seats, including West Bengal’s Bhabanipur where Mamata Banerjee is expected to contest as she needs to get elected to the state assembly by November to continue as the chief minister, will be held on September 30, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Saturday. Banerjee took oath as the chief minister on May 5 and requires getting elected within six months to retain the post. Her Trinamool Congress (TMC) swept to power for the third time this summer by winning 213 out of the 292 seats for which polls were held in eight phases in March and April. But Banerjee lost the polls from Nandigram to her protégé-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by a narrow margin of 1,956 votes.
TMC has been pressing for holding the by-polls as soon as possible. It has been critical of the ECI over the delay in announcing the schedule for them. In June, Banerjee said the election watchdog was awaiting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s instructions to hold the by-elections. A delegation of TMC parliamentarians met the ECI on July 15, seeking the by-polls at the earliest. The by-poll schedule was announced days after the ECI sought inputs on 30 constituencies across the country from concerned chief secretaries and disaster management authorities in view of the pandemic.
“The chief secretary of West Bengal informed that in view of the administrative exigencies and public interest and to avoid (a) vacuum in the state, bye-elections for Bhabanipur from where Mamata Banerjee intends to contest elections may be conducted,” the ECI in a press note.
Apart from Bhabanipur, the
by-polls will be held to Jangipur, Samerganj (West Bengal), and Pipli (Odisha) assembly seats.
The ECI has allowed 14-day campaigning in Bhabanipur while curtailing the electioneering in other constituencies as per the pandemic situation. “Campaigning is allowed but it has been notified according to the pandemic (situation)...,” a person familiar with the matter said on the condition of anonymity.
Banerjee, who was scheduled to leave for a three-day tour of north Bengal on Sunday, postponed the visit as the ECI declared the by-poll schedule.
The ECI said public gatherings will be prohibited during the nomination process. “Only three vehicles (will be) permitted within a periphery of 100 meters of RO’s (returning officer) office. No procession for nomination shall be permitted,” the ECI said in an order.
For indoor campaigns, 30% of the allowed capacity or 200 persons, whichever is less, will be permitted. A register will also be maintained to count the number of people attending the meetings. The daily count of Covid-19
cases shot up from around 200 on February 26, when the eightphase elections in Bengal were announced, to more than 27,000 on April 29 when the polls ended. Health experts linked the surge in infections to political rallies that violated the Covid-19 protocol.
Elections in Samsherganj and Jangipur were cancelled when the candidates contesting them died of Covid-19 in April during the staggered assembly polls. Two BJP members of Parliament, Nisith Pramanik and Jagannath Sarkar, resigned after winning the assembly polls. Two other TMC legislators died after contracting the Covid-19 infection. TMC lawmaker from Bhabanipur, Sovan Deb Chatterjee, resigned to vacate the seat for Banerjee to contest.
TMC leader Kunal Ghosh welcomed the by-poll announcement. “This is the ideal time to hold the elections...Bye-elections are usually held within six months. We approached the ECI with all explanations and provided data on the Covid situation too...”
The BJP, which has been citing
alleged post-poll violence and saying by-elections should not be held until the law-and-order situation improves, said it is nevertheless ready for them.
“Municipal elections are due in various civic bodies for over a year now. In some places, polls have not been held for around two years. The state government has placed administrators in all the civic bodies. If bye-elections can be held, then why not civic elections? We are, however, ready for the bye-elections,” said BJP leader Jay Prakash Majumdar. The results of the by-polls will be announced on October 3.
In Odisha, the by-poll to Pipili assembly constituency was necessitated after ruling Biju Janata Dal lawmaker Pradip Maharathy died of Covid-19 in October 2020. It was scheduled on April 17 but was postponed after the death of Congress candidate Ajit Mangaraj three days before the polling. The by-poll was again rescheduled to May 16 after Congress fielded another candidate. But on May 4, the ECI deferred the by-poll as a lockdown was imposed amid rising Covid-19 cases.