Kolkota: West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee is set to contest the crucial by-election from Bhabanipur constituency on September 30. Mamata lost the Legislative Assembly Elections, contesting from Nandigram to BJP candidate Suvendu Adhikari, who was once her trusted acquaintance.
Trinamool Congress claimed an emphatic victory in the April-May election, winning 213 of a total of 294 seats in the Bengal Assembly, but the chief failed to capture own constituency. As she needs to get elected to continue as the chief minister, Mamata Banerjee had decided to contest from Bhabanipur. To assist this, senior Trinamool Congress leader Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who won the constituency, submitted resignation as MLA. Mamata, represented the constituency for last two terms- 2011 and 2016. However, this year, she had pitched herself from the Nandigram seat in an apparent bid to challenge Adhikari, who had defected to the BJP ahead of assembly elections. Reports have come out that, Mr Chattopadhyay is expected to contest from Khardah, which fell vacant after the Trinamool’s Kajal Sinha died due to Covid.
The Election Commission said that it made the decision considering the ‘constitutional exigency and special request’ from the West Bengal government. By-poll dates for two other seats in Bengal (Shamshergunj, Jangipur) and Pipli in Odisha, was also announced. However, by-polls for 31 other constituencies – including those in Maharashtra, Telangana and a few northeastern states, have been deferred in light of the Covid19 situation.
‘Considering the constitutional exigency and special request from the state of West Bengal, it has (been) decided to hold bypoll for AC 159 – Bhabanipur. Much stricter norms have been kept by the Commission as an abundant caution to safeguard from Covid-19’. Same time, The government’s pushing for the by-polls has been criticized by the BJP. BJP chief of West Bengal, Dilip Ghosh criticized asking ‘why she was in such a hurry’. According to Article 164(4) of the Constitution, individuals can take oath as a minister even if they are not MLAs, but will have to get elected within a period of six months after being sworn in. Mamata Banerjee took oath as the chief minister on May 5, which makes it necessary to win from a constituency, before November.
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