Hummingbird News Desk
KOLKATA, 28 SEP: The Election Commission has decided to hold by-elections on 30 October to fill vacancies in three Parliamentary constituencies of UT of Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh and thirty vacancies in Assembly constituencies of various States.
In West Bengal, the by-elections will be held in Kharadaha, Shantipur, Dinhata and Gosaba.
In a notification, the commission said that the last day to submit nominations is 8 October. The last day for scrutiny of nominations is 11 October. The last day to withdraw the nomination is 16 October. The counting will be held on 2 November.
The bypolls in Dinhata and Shantipur were pending because Nishith Pramanik, MP from Coochbehar and Jagannath Sarkar, MP from Ranaghat who won from Santipur, submitted their resignation to Speaker Biman Banerjee. They preferred to retain their respective parliamentary seats and resigned from the state legislative assembly. This left the two seats vacant. Later, Pramanik has become union minister in the Modi government.
The elections in two other assembly constituencies – Gosaba in South 24 Parganas and Khardaha in North 24 Parganas were necessisated as the elected candidates died due to Covid-19. Jayanta Naskar who won from Gosaba and Kajal Sinha who won from Khardaha died after the election was over.
Earlier, the ECI announced election in Bhabanipur constituency treating it as a ‘Special Case’ on the request of the state government and that triggered controversy. A PIL was filed challenging the commission’s decision and the matter is pending before the Calcutta High Court.
Quoting chief secretary H.K. Dwiwedi, the commission said, “He (Chief Secretary) cited that under Article 164(4) of the Constitution of India, a Minister who is not a member of the Legislature of the State for a period of six consecutive months shall at the expiration of that period ceases to be a Minister and there will be a constitutional crisis and vacuum in the top executive post in the Government unless election is held immediately.
He has also informed that in view of administrative exigencies and public interest and to avoid vacuum in the state, by-elections for 159-Bhabanipur, Kolkata may be conducted.
Apart from Bengal, elections will be held in five seats in Assam, three each in Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Himachal Pradesh, two each in Bihar, Rajasthan, and Karnataka, one each in Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Nagaland, Mizoram, Maharashtra and Haryana.
As per the Election Commission, campaigns can be held in confined spaces with a maximum of 30 percent or 200 people. In the case of open space, 50 percent or a maximum of 500 people can be advertised. A maximum of 50 people can be advertised on the streets. Recognized political parties at the national or state level can campaign with a maximum of 20 star campaigners.
Tags: #ECI #Bypolls #AssemblySeats #WestBengal