West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee, who is still a non-MLA, will have a second chance to head to the state assembly by winning from the iconic Bhabanipur seat, where election will be held on Sept 30.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) Saturday announced the byelection in Bhabanipur as well as elections in two other seats, Samserganj and Jangipur, where polls were not held in Mar-Apr owing to deaths of two candidates, will take place on the same date.
In a peculiar situation, Mamata, who became the Chief Minister for the third consecutive term, was defeated by her lieutenant-turned Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Suvendu Adhikari by over 1,900 votes in Nandigram while she led her TMC to a landslide victory with 213 seats.
However, Mamata has already moved court challenging the poll result alleging foul play by Adhikari.
West Bengal Minister and TMC veteran, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, who had won from Bhabanipur on May 2, has already vacated the seat for Mamata to contest.
While the BJP was opposing the bypolls citing COVID-19 situation, several TMC delegations met the ECI pressing it to hold them as the infection rate is low now in the state.
The ECI is yet to announce the dates for bypolls to four more seats which are now vacant.
A bypoll will also be held in Odisha’s Pipili, the poll body announced.
The result of all four bypolls will be declared on Oct 3.
