Bhawanipur By-Election Date: The Central Election Commission has announced the date of elections/by-elections for a total of 3 assembly seats in West Bengal. These 3 assembly seats also include the Bhawanipur assembly seat of West Bengal, from where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has to contest. According to the rules, if the Chief Minister is not a member of the Legislative Council, then he must become a member of the House within 6 months of taking oath, otherwise he may have to leave the post. For this reason, the Trinamool Congress was constantly demanding from the Central Election Commission that the date of by-elections / elections in West Bengal should be announced soon so that a constitutional crisis does not arise in the state.

Along with Bhawanipur seat of West Bengal, elections will also be held in Shamsherganj and Jangipur assembly seats, where elections were postponed due to the death of candidates. Polling for these three assembly seats will be held on 30 September and counting of votes will take place on 3 October. According to the schedule of the Central Election Commission, nominations for 3 assembly seats in West Bengal will be done till September 13. Nominations will be returned by 16 September. Voting will be held on 30 September and counting of votes will take place on 3 October. Apart from 3 assembly seats in West Bengal, elections will also be held on Pipli, one assembly seat of Odisha, on the same date. Actually, the election on this seat was postponed.

Although by-elections were to be held in a total of 32 assembly seats in the country, an appeal was made by the rest of the states to not hold elections at the moment, citing the festive season, rising cases of corona and natural calamity. Whereas, referring to the constitutional crisis on behalf of the state of West Bengal, there was a demand to conduct elections soon. In view of this, the Central Election Commission has announced to hold elections on 30 September.

discussed with the officials

Before announcing the date of these elections, the Central Election Commission had discussed with the election officials of the states going for the by-elections/elections on September 1 and other officials. In these, a meeting was held with the Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Telangana, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Advisor to Dadra Nagar Haveli Daman Diu. In the meeting, most of the states and union territories had suggested to hold elections after the by-elections, festive season, natural calamities like floods and the situation of Corona becomes normal.

During the meeting, the Chief Secretaries of Odisha and West Bengal had said that at present the situation is better in the state and elections/by-elections can be held there. In view of all these suggestions, the Central Election Commission has decided that at present, elections/by-elections will be held in a total of 4 assembly seats in West Bengal and Odisha, while the by-elections to be held in 31 assembly and 3 Lok Sabha seats across the country will not be held at present. The Central Election Commission, following the Corona virus guidelines issued through the Union Home Ministry, has directed the states to conduct nominations, election campaigns, voting and counting of votes according to the guidelines issued earlier.