Shubhadeep Choudhury

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 14

After having repeatedly accusing the Election Commission of spreading Covid in the state by holding Assembly elections in West Bengal in multiple phases, CM Mamata Banerjee has now made a U-turn and wants the EC to hold elections in vacant Assembly seats in the state without further delay.

A delegation of West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) is slated to meet the EC here tomorrow to press the demand for holding elections in the vacant seats at the earliest.

Seven Assembly seats, including five in which byelections are due, are lying vacant in West Bengal.

The urgency of TMC for filling up the vacancies is linked to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s desperation to get elected as an MLA to continue as Chief Minister. Mamata, who lost the polls to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram constituency, needs to get elected as an MLA by November 5 to continue as CM. If elections are not held before that date owing to Covid situation, then Banerjee will have to resign from the CM’s post and find a successor.