Voting Sept 30, results Oct 3 : Relief for Didi as EC allows Bhawanipore bypoll as special case

Voting also in Shamshergunj and Jangipur on September 30; results on October 3, a month before deadline for Mamata to be elected to the Assembly

Mamata Banerjee.: File picture

Arnab Ganguly   |   TT  |  New Delhi   |   04.09.21: Mamata Banerjee received her best Durga Puja gift from Narendra Modi on Saturday as the Election Commission of India announced the dates for the by-election to the Bhowanipore Assembly seat  as a special case,  paving the way for the Bengal chief minister to seek re-election from the seat she had represented in the last two terms.

Bhowanipore,  along with Assembly seats of Shamshergunj and Jangipur, will go to polls on September 30. The results of all the  three bypolls would be announced on October 3, just about a week before Bengal’s grandest festival. According to the notification of the Election Commission, the poll process will be completed before October 5, a month to spare before the deadline for Mamata to  become an elected MLA expires.

The by-election was necessitated after Mamata’s loss in  the Assembly elections in Nandigram against the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikary, which has been challenged in the Calcutta high court.

According to EC sources, while the chief secretaries of other states awaiting by-elections like Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Telengana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and the advisers of the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu cited the Covid pandemic, flood situation and festive season to delay the poll process, Bengal claimed it was fully prepared.

“In the meeting between the EC officials and the state chief secretaries, the Bengal chief secretary argued the Covid-19 situation was fully under control and the floods had not ravaged any of the poll-bound constituencies,” said a source.

The chief secretary also referred to a possible constitutional crisis in the state if the by-election in Bhowanipore from where Mamata will contest was not held on time. The Bengal government argued, to avoid a vacuum at the top and for the sake of administrative exigencies and public interest, the byelection may be held in Bhowanipore.

The question,  however,  remains that if Bengal is completely prepared to hold polls, then why the constituencies of Dinhata, Santipur, Khardaha and Gosaba have been left out. These four seats fell vacant following resignations or deaths of the winning candidates.

According to the ECI notification, “after taking into consideration the inputs and views of  chief secretaries of the concerned states and the respective chief electoral officers, while the Commission has decided not to hold by-elections in other 31 Assembly constituencies and three parliamentary constituencies, and considering the constitutional exigency and special request from the state of West Bengal, it has decided to hold by-election in Bhowanipore-AC.”

There has been a growing feeling, largely fuelled by Mamata herself, that the BJP at the Centre was not keen on holding the by-election to a create a situation where Mamata would be forced to resign. The Bengal leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikary, too had kept up the ante on the chief minister.

“We succeeded in rattling her. The announcement also proves that the EC does not run according to the wishes of the BJP,” said a central BJP leader.

Despite Mamata’s occasional outbursts, the ECI had never gone on record saying elections would not be held. Even during her visit to Delhi last month, Mamata had requested Modi to ensure that the by-poll was held in time.

Now there's a question on what happens to  state agriculture minister Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who had resigned hurriedly from Bhowanipore to facilitate Mamata’s entry to the Assembly. Chattopadhyay was tipped to contest from Khardah, where the Trinamul MLA succumbed after the results were declared. Chattopadhyay had even started grooming the constituency represented in the last two terms by  state finance minister Amit Mitra. Chattopadhyay would have to resign from the cabinet if he is not elected to the Assembly within November 5.

 Whether the Calcutta-based Chattopadhyay will be nominated in either Shamshergunj or Jangipur is not clear. Late President Pranab Mukherjee’s son Abhishek who recently joined Trinamul is lobbying hard for the seat he had represented earlier in the Lok Sabha.