NEW DELHI, Sept 4: The West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to contest the by-election from Bhabanipur to enter the state Assembly the schedule for which was announced by the Election Commission of India on Saturday.
The polling for four Assembly constituencies, including Bhabanipur, will be held on September 30, and the votes to be counted on October 3, the ECI said. The four constituencies included three in West Bengal and Pipli in Odisha even while the ECI kept pending the byelections in 31 other state Assembly and three Lok Sabha constituencies.
The nominations for the four byelections will be filed from September 6 to 13.
Banerjee, who lost from Nandigram in May and is currently not an MLA, has time until November to get elected in order to continue as Chief Minister. The polls for Samserganj and Jangipur in West Bengal and Pipli in Odisha, which had been adjourned due to the death of candidates during the Assembly elections, were deferred due to the COVID-19 situation in May.
To assess the possibility of holding elections, the EC held a meeting with State officials on Wednesday.
The Chief Secretaries of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and the adviser to Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu informed the EC of flood-related constraints, festivals and the COVID-19 situation, the EC statement said.
“They suggested that it would be advisable to have byelections after the end of the festive season,” it said.
Some States also informed the EC of the government as well as research bodies predicting a possible third wave of the pandemic in October.
The Chief Secretaries of Odisha and West Bengal, however, told the EC that the COVID-19 situation in their States were under control. The Bengal Chief Secretary also told the panel that the State was ready to hold elections and that the floods had not affected the poll-bound constituencies. The official also cited Article 164 (4) of the Constitution, saying that a Minister who is not an MLA for six consecutive months shall cease to be a Minister at the end of that period.
“He has also informed that in view of administrative exigencies and public interest and to avoid vacuum in the State, byelections for 159-Bhabanipur, Kolkata from where Ms. Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister intends to contest, may be conducted,” the EC said.
It said it had decided not to hold bypolls in the 31 Assembly seats and three Lok Sabha seats after considering the inputs of the Chief Secretaries and Chief Electoral Officers of those States.
“Considering the constitutional exigency and special request from State of West Bengal, it has decided to hold byelection in 159-Bhabanipur AC,” the EC said.
The poll panel said stricter norms had been put in place, including limiting indoor meetings to 30% of allowed capacity or 200 persons, whichever is less.
(Manas Dasgupta)
