The five Assembly seats, where by-polls are due to be held are Bhawanipore, Khardha, Gosaba, Dinhata and Shantipur. Samsherganj and Jangipur in Murshidabad will witness polling due to the deaths of candidates.
Election Commission of India (IANS file photo)
The Election Commission recently held a meeting with the state chief executive officer (CEO) Aariz Aftab and other officials where they have been asked to prepare for conducting by-polls in five Assembly seats and elections to two seats in West Bengal, sources said.
The five Assembly seats, where by-polls are due to be held are Bhawanipore, Khardha, Gosaba, Dinhata and Shantipur. Samsherganj and Jangipur in Murshidabad will witness polling due to the deaths of candidates.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee needs to get elected as an MLA within six months, following her defeat to her one-time cabinet colleague turned BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari at Nandigram during the Assembly polls. Banerjee had lost to him by a slender margin and had even alleged conspiracy behind her defeat.
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A delegation of Trinamul Congress in a move to mount pressure on the poll panel to expedite holding of the pending by-polls had already visited the Election Commission office in Delhi and another delegation led by state commerce and industry minister Partha Chatterjee had met CEO Aariz Aftab.
Of the five Assembly seats where by-polls are due, elections in Shantipur of Nadia and Dinhata of Coochbehar became necessary after the candidates who won on BJP tickets resigned.
Similarly, Bhawanipore too will witness by-polls since former power minister Sovandeb Chatterjee had quit the seat in favour of the chief minister Mamata Banerjee from where she will seek her re-election. Bypolls in Khardha in North 24 Parganas and Gosaba in South 24 Parganas were necessitated due to deaths of winning candidates in both the seats.
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