BYPOLLS ON FOUR SEATS, INCLUDING MAMATA’S, TO BE HELD ON SEPT 30

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA: The bypoll to the Bhabanipur assembly seat in West Bengal, from where chief minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee plans to contest, will be held on September 30 along with three other seats, the Election Commission announced on Saturday.

Counting of votes in all four seats will take place on October 3. The EC said it has kept “much stricter” norms as caution amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The bypoll schedule was announced days after the ECI sought inputs on 30 constituencies across the country from concerned chief secretaries and disaster management officials in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Banerjee took oath as the CM on May 5 and needs to get elected within six months to retain her post. Her Trinamool Congress, which repeatedly sought the elections, was critical of the ECI over the delay in announcing the schedule.

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) party swept to power for the third time this summer by winning 213 out of the 292 seats. , for which elections were held in eight phases in March and April. But Banerjee lost the poll from Nandigram to her protégéturned-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.