TMC MPs meet Election Commission, demand by-polls in Bengal

A delegation of Trinamool Congress MPs met the Election Commission in Delhi on Thursday, demanding early by-polls to seven West Bengal assembly seats.

New Delhi: A delegation of Trinamool Congress MPs met the Election Commission in Delhi on Thursday, demanding early by-polls to seven West Bengal assembly seats. The delegation of six Trinamool MPs included Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Saugata Roy, Derek O'Brien, Kalyan Banerjee, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, and Dr Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar. The delegation has demanded early by-polls in West Bengal for the seven vacant assembly seats.

The elections were postponed in two of the seven assembly seats in the Samserganj and Murshidabad assembly seats, due to the death of two candidates. The remaining five seats - Bhawanipur, Santipur, Dinhata, Khardaha, and Gosaba fell vacant after the election results. In one of these seats, the successful candidate died while the four winning candidates resigned due to different reasons.

According to the rules, in the event of any seat becoming vacant, the Election Commission has to conduct elections within six months. Two months have already passed so far in the state.

TMC MP Sudip Bandopadhyay while speaking to the media said, that when the elections were held in eight phases in West Bengal, the Covid infection in the state had reached between 6000 to 17000 cases. Despite the ever-increasing rate of infection and the request of the Trinamool Congress, elections were not conducted by merging the two remaining phases.

He further added that today the situation of Covid-19 infection has reduced by 17 times in the state. Trinamool Congress says that this is the ideal time to hold elections while following all the guidelines related to Covid-19 decided by the Election Commission. The Trinamool MPs also said that they are ready for the by-elections if they are held even within a week's time limit.