A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Calcutta High Court seeking the court’s intervention to direct the Election Commission (EC) to announce the dates of by-poll in the seven vacant assembly constituencies in West Bengal. The PIL, filed by Advocate Rama Prasad Sarkar, has been scheduled for next hearing on September 8.
Speaking to News18, Advocate Rama Prasad Sarkar said, “It is a matter of concern why the EC has not yet announced the by-poll dates for the seven vacant seats in Bengal. As per the ‘Representation of Peoples Act under Sec 150,151’, EC must hold elections and by-elections within six months. But in this case, almost four months have passed since Mamata Banerjee took oath as the Chief Minister of Bengal on May 5 and we are still in the dark about the poll dates.”
“The EC is unnecessarily delaying the by-polls and therefore I pleaded before the Chief Justice to kindly direct the EC, Ministry of Home Affairs and State Election Commission to immediately announce the by-elections dates,” he said.
Advocate Sarkar also requested the court to direct EC to conduct by-polls for seven vacant seats in one phase.
Recently on August 26, a team of delegates from Trinamool Congress met the officials of the EC in Delhi with a plea to hold the by-polls at the earliest for the seven vacant assembly seats in the State.
Meanwhile, TMC MP Saugata Roy, addressing a press conference said, “Our meeting with the Election Commission (EC) was very cordial and the poll body said that their purpose is to hold elections and not to withhold the polling process. We told them that the situation is conducive to hold the polls as the number of COVID-19 cases has declined in the State. We have also given them COVID-19 statistics in all the seven constituencies where bye-polls are pending. The EC said that they will consider our matter and we are hopeful for a fair response from the EC.”
As of now there are seven vacant assembly seats in West Bengal. Recently, Dinhata and Santipur assembly seats fell vacant after BJP leaders Nisith Pramanik and Jagannath Sarkar resigned as MLAs after winning to retain their Parliament memberships.
Similarly, elections could not be held in Samserganj and Jangipur seats in Murshidabad due to the death of candidates during the recent Assembly Polls in the State. The Kharda seat also fell vacant in North 24-Parganas district after TMC candidate Kajal Sinha passed away before he could celebrate his victory.
The Gosaba seat also fell vacant after the TMC candidate – Jayanta Naskar – who won the elections, succumbed to COVID-19 in June this year.
And, on May 21, to make way for Mamata Banerjee – TMC MLA from Bhawanipur constituency, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay resigned from the post.
As per the Indian Constitution, Mamata Banerjee – who lost her Nandigram seat in this Assembly Polls – can run the state as a Chief Minister but she will have to get elected in the next six months to retain her post. In such a case, by-poll in six vacant assembly seats must be conducted by November 5, 2021.
State BJP president Dilip Ghosh said, “It is a court matter and I would not like to make any comment.”
CPI-M leader Sujan Chakraborty supported timely completion of by-polls but said that the state government should also announce the dates of pending municipal polls.
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