EC facilitates Mamata
To hold 4 by-polls on September 30, including in Bhawanipur, from where Mamata proposes to contest to retain her chief ministership
The Election Commission on Saturday announced four by-elections, three in West Bengal and one in Odisha, on September 30, including Bhawanipur in Kolkata from where Mamata Banerjee is to contest to retain the chief ministership. The counting will be held on October 3, a Sunday.
This removes a Constitutional hurdle that Mamata faces if she is not elected to the Assembly within six months of taking the oath on May 5 without being its member.
The Bhabanipur by-election was decided "in view of the constitutional exigency and special request from the West Bengal government," the EC said in the announcement. It did not spell out the constitutional exigency, but it facilitates Mamata who had lost the Assembly election from Nandigram in the month of May.
Mamata had taken oath as the Chief Minister on May 5 and as such she has time till November 4 to be elected to the Assembly to continue in the post. With the by-election taking place two months ahead, Trinamul Congress need not harbour a fear that the Modi government may put pressure on the EC to delay the by-election.
The EC has also decided to hold the Assembly elections for three seats -Samserganj and Jangirpur in West Bengal and Pipli in Odisha where the polls were deferred vide the commission's notification on May 4. However, since the candidates and the political parties had already availed the campaign period for these seats, they will be allowed to campaign only from September 20.
The formal gazette notification for the byelections will be issued on Monday, September 6, with September 13 being the last date of nominations, scrutiny the next day and the withdrawals will be allowed up to September 16. The EC said the model code of conduct has come into force with immediate effect from September 4 onwards in the districts in which the whole or any part of the constituencies are included. The by-elections, however, have been kept on hold in 11 states and two Union Territories as urged by the chief secretaries citing the constraints of floods, festivals and pandemic. They may be held after the festival season is over. The states where the by-elections are on hold are: Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Telangana.