NEW DELHI: The Election Commission (EC)has said that by-polls for the Bhabanipur Assembly seat in West Bengal (WB) will be held on September 30, and votes will be counted on October 3 

The Bhabanipur assembly seat is being closely watched as All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee will be contesting to win so that she can remain the Chief Minister.  

According to Article 164(4) of the Constitution states any minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the Legislature of the State shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister, thus Banerjee as well as WB's agriculture minister, Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay, who had resigned from the same seat to allow Banerjee to contest, will have to win another assembly seat.

The EC notification also announced by-poll dates for two other seats in Bengal (Samserganj) and (Jangipur), as well as Pipli in Odisha, however, by-polls for 31 other constituencies, including those in Maharashtra, Telangana and some northeastern states, have been deferred in light of the COVID-19 situation.

"After taking into consideration the inputs and views of Chief Secretaries of the concerned states, and the respective Chief Electoral Officers, the Commission has decided not to hold by-polls in other 31 Assembly constituencies and 3 Parliamentary constituencies," the EC notification said adding, "Considering the constitutional exigency and special request from the state of West Bengal, it has (been) decided to hold by-poll for AC 159 - Bhabanipur." 

WB's daily new cases had peaked to over 20,000 in mid-May during the heavy campaigning by TMC and archrival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and subsequent voting in various phases spread over two months. 

Banerjee had given up her traditional Bhabanipur seat to contest, from Nandigram as a challenge to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, her former loyalist who switched sides but lost by a margin of fewer than 1,800 votes, although TMC emerged victorious winning 213 of a total of 294 seats in the WB assembly and she became the CM.

Banerjee has petitioned the WB High Court Adhikari's election to be declared void under various grounds including challenging the EC's decision to reject her plea for a recount.