July 15, 2021
Hold bye-elections within 6 months, demands Trinamool Congress from Election Commission
A six-member Trinamool Congress team met Election Commission officials in New Delhi at 4.30pm today, demanding that bye-elections be held in seven Assembly seats of West Bengal as soon as possible.
The team comprised Saugata Roy, Sudip Bandopadhyay, Derek O’Brien, Kalyan Bandopadhyay, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Sukhendu Shekhar Roy.
After the meeting, MP Saugata Roy told media persons, “Coronavirus infection rate had come down to below 2%. This was the right time to hold the bye-elections.”
The team proposed to the Commission that a little time should be given for parties to campaign before the by-polls are held.
Trinamool leader in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay said, “We had a long discussion with the full bench of the Election Commission. Giving data, we pointed out that in April, the corona infection rate was 33%. That was now below 2%. In this situation, we tried to explain to them that the people of the state were hoping that the bye-elections be held within 6 months. We did not have any objections to carry out campaigning for a short while before that. The people of Bengal want that polling be held in the remaining seats.”
He further said that “we are not disheartened after the talks. We believe the discussions will bear fruit.”
MP Kalyan Bandopadhyay was hopeful that the bye-elections would be held in the state within 6 months. He said, “20 bye-elections remain to be held country-wide. The EC wants them to be held at the same time. That’s why they are collecting reports from various states. The EC does not want a constitutional crisis to happen.”
