Team News Riveting
Kolkata, September 14
The Election Commission (EC) has accepted the nomination papers of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after the scrutiny, paving way for her to contest the assembly by-elections from Bhabanipur constituency.
The BJP had raised objections and pointed out that West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Mamata Banerjee had not mentioned five criminal cases pending against her in the nomination papers. Sajal Ghosh, the chief election agent of BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal, wrote to the EC and objected to the declaration filed by the Chief MInister.
“I beg to object to the nomination/declaration filed by Mamata Banerjee on the ground that the candidate has failed to disclose particulars of the pending criminal proceedings against her”, Ghosh wrote. Ghosh provided details of the cases filed at different police stations in Assam against Banerjee.
The Election Officer rejected the objections raised by the BJP after scrutiny of papers on Tuesday. It would facilitate Mamata Banerjee to contest the by-election that has been crucial for her on technical grounds.
Despite losing the assembly election to Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram, Mamata Banerjee took oath as the Chief Minister of West Bengal on May 5. As per the Constitutional obligations, she has to get elected to the state legislative assembly within sex months. The deadline would be ending on November 5.
Bhabanipur Assembly constituency would go to the byelection on September 30.
Politically, Mamata Banerjee would not face much challenge from her opponents. While Congress had decided not to field any candidate against Mamata, BJP and CPM have pitted comparatively weak candidates against her. Priyanka Tibrewal (BJP) and Shrijeeb Biswas (CPI-M) are in the fray from Bhabanipur.
