Mamata Banerjee’s decision to move court over her defeat in Nandigram could have been triggered by multiple reasons. As the Bengal chief minister is not an MLA, she would have to contest and win polls within six months of her appointment as chief minister of the state.
Banerjee’s apparent choice is her earlier seat, Bhowanipur, where she did not contest this election. Her minister, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, resigned last month as Bhowanipur MLA. However, since Chattopadhyay, who is the agriculture minister did not quit as a minister, he would also contest from a seat in the by-poll.
There were two seats in West Bengal where the election could not be held in March-April this year as the candidates died. These are two seats from Murshidabad—Shamsergunj and Jangipur. While in Shamshergunj, Congress candidate Rezaul Karim, died due to Covid-19, in Jangipur, RSP candidate, Pradip Nandi, also succumbed to Covid-19. The two seats were supposed to go to polls on May 12 but was later suspended due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in the state.
In the meantime, four more seats were vacated. Two BJP MLAs—Nisith Pramanik and Jagannath Sarkar—resigned as MLAs as they are MPs. So, their seats—Natabari and Shantipur—would also go to polls. In Khardha, the TMC’s winning candidate died of Covid-19.
In total, polls to six seats are to be conducted by the election commission. The primary concern for the Election Commission (EC) would be to hold the elections in the seats where dates had been fixed due to suspension during the election. The other bypoll was necessitated due to vacant seats and not because of deaths of candidates, except Khardha. So, these three seats would be top priority with dates of two seats already been declared. Chattopadhyay is all set to contest from Khardha.
According to a retired IAS officer, in the changing scenario of Covid-19 second wave, it is the sole discretion of the EC, in consultation with the central government, as to how to conduct the bypoll.
And of course, central government’s advisory would matter for the EC as EC does not have any official cadre on its own. It totally relies on the officials of the central government to conduct poll. Also, the way EC came under the attack of the Madras High Court, there would be some kind of hesitation on the part of EC,” said the officer.
Here comes the twist. If the bypolls cannot be held in six months, at least in the two seats where the poll did not take place at all, then the opposition in Bengal would demand the resignation of the chief minister who is not an MLA. Then the law has to be amended or an ordinance has to be passed so that Mamata could continue as chief minister and that has to be done by the Centre.
Banerjee had earlier, shortly after the result was out, spoken about alleged malpractices in Nandigram and she also vowed to go to court against the result. Such action should have to be done within the 45 days of result declaration. On Friday, Banerjee filed a suit in the Calcutta High Court challenging the election results by voicing concern of ‘gross violations’ due to which her loyalist-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari won as BJP candidate. It is highly debatable—as it is unprecedented—that any High Court would make an election result null-and-void. The Supreme Court had in several judgments given EC immense power to conduct and declare elections. If such a vital matter would have to be taken up by the judiciary—making an election null-and-void—it has to be done by the Supreme Court. Calcutta HC can only seek whether there was any dereliction of duties by any officers engaged in the election process which might have been overlooked by the commission. Also, in that case the complaints should have been filed with the returning officer.
However, there was an initial glitch once the matter went to the HC. The judge who was assigned the case is known to be close to Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh. TMC counsel then pleaded the judge to hear the case next week and the judge deferred the case to June 24. TMC MP Derek-O-Brien, in a tweet, questioned the background of the judge.
Now, if the by-election is not held on time—within six months—Banerjee could tell the central government or opposition party that the election of Nandigram is sub-judice and they cannot demand her resignation. But that would also mean disputing the legal status of the Leader of opposition.
