Voicing displeasure over the “delay” in holding elections to seven West Bengal assembly seats, crucial for Mamata Banerjee’s to continue as chief minister, the TMC said on Wednesday a party delegation will meet the Election Commission tomorrow to press for it.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP and party’s chief whip Sukhendu Shekhar Ray, a senior leader of the state’s ruling party, also taunted the poll panel, wondering whether it was “waiting for a third Covid wave” to conduct the elections.
TMC Rajya Sabha MP and party’s national spokesperson Derek O’Brien, Ray, Leader of Trinamul Parliamentary Party in Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandopadhyay, Dum Dum MP Saugata Roy, Barasat MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Lok Sabha chief whip Kalyan Banerjee comprise the delegation which is slated to meet the EC regarding holding by-elections in seven Assembly seats two of which are due since general Assembly election.
Miss Banerjee will contest from Bhowanipore to retain her chief ministership. The six other constituencies are Kardha, where the TMC candidate Kajal Sinha, who had won but passed away due to Covid just before the results were published.
The other constituencies are Jangipur and Shamshergunj in Murshidabad where Congress and RSP candidates passed away due to Covid and elections couldn’t be held in April 2021.
In Gosaba, the sitting MLA Jayanta Naskar recently passed away. In Shantipur (Nadia) and Dinhata (Cooch Behar), the BJP MPs contested the Assembly poll and won but decided to quit and remain MPs, leaving those seats vacant. Maintaining that the pandemic has eased considerably, Ray said the situation was conducive for holding the polls.
The Constitution allows a person to occupy a ministerial position only for up to six months without getting elected after which the term ceases. Miss Banerjee needs to get elected by 4 November.
“We will be meeting EC officials tomorrow (Thursday) in Delhi with the demand to hold pending elections and byelections to seven assembly segments. The Assembly elections were held in eight phases when Covid was at an all-time high. But now the Covid situation has improved a lot.
“We want the by-polls to be conducted as early as possible,” Ray said. Miss Banerjee’s pocket borough of Bhowanipore fell vacant after state minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay resigned to facilitate her election from the seat. Currently, Miss Banerjee and finance minister Amit Mitra are the two non-legislators in the ministry.
Mitra has expressed his desire to step down due to ill health. The TMC had stormed back to power in May for a third consecutive term bagging 213 seats in the 294-member assembly.
Meanwhile, Dum Dum MP Saugata Roy today lashed out at the Centre for promulgating ordinances against the labourers of Ordinance Factory. He said due to corporatization of the Ordinance factory, labourers have taken to strike but by promulgating ordinances the Centre has indicated that strike is a punishable offence and those who will instigate or fund a strike will also be punished as well.
…With PTI inputs