The anticipated West Bengal elections of 2021

The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced that the by-poll would be held on September 30 in West Bengal’s Bhabinipur Assembly constituency. The counting of the votes taking place during the ongoing election will be on October 3 2021. 

This election is crucial for Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to retain or continue as Chief Minister of the state.

The pressure seems to be twofold for Mamata Banerjee because even if she has attained the opposition as the Chief Minister of Bengal, Article 164 of the Constitution states that a Minister who is not an MLA within six months has no choice but to resign their post. 

When Banerjee’s TMC party leader MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay resigned, the seat has been vacant since May 21 

In 2011, when Mamata Banerjee held the position as the Bengal’s Chief Minister for the first time, she was an active member of Parliament.

During her tenure, she did not contest the assembly elections; however, after a short span, she got elected from Bhabinipur. 

During this session, Mamata Banerjee thought of making a strategic move by contesting from Nandigram in East Midnapore as she was going against Suvendu Adhikari. The witnesses were surprised that the tables turned when Adhikari defeated Mamata by a whooping difference of over 1700 votes. 

Why are the upcoming elections crucial for Mamata Banerjee?

Banerjee’s defeat in the previous election could be a turning point towards her downfall, so this particular upcoming election is of utmost importance for Banerjee herself.

The most anticipated polls will be taking place on September 30. The earlier planned polling of the two seats in the Murshidabad District -Samser Ganj and Jangipur will also occur. This could decide the fate of Mamata Banerjee as to whether she will continue to hold a position as the chief minister of Bengal. 

For the seats mentioned above, Jakir Hossain is the TMC candidate in the Jangipur seat, while Amirul Islam is contesting as the party’s candidate from Samserganj.

To provide a better opportunity for Mamata Banerjee, well known veteran politician, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay stepped down as the TMC MLA of Bhabanipur to ensure that Banerjee would become a member of the state legislative assembly by fighting the elections. 

Banerjee has been the undefeated candidate as she has won from Bhabinipur twice since 2011. Chattopadhyay had defeated BJP’s actor-politician Rudranil Ghosh by around 28,000 votes from Bhabanipur. 

Her former aide now turned opponent Suvendu Adhikari is currently the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly.

The battle of the two upcoming promising candidates will be fierce as well as competitive. 

Updates and post notifications for the Bhabanipur elections will be issued on September 6. The election begins with the nomination process.

Officials have announced that September 13 is the last date of filing nominations, followed by the scrutiny of papers that will take place on September 14. Finally, September 16 is the later date to withdraw from the electoral battle. 

According to an Election Commission statement, the West Bengal chief secretary has stated that, given the current circumstances, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has to be a member of the state legislature by November 5. 

What do you think will the results be?

Who will emerge victoriously? Will this be a downfall of Mamata Banerjee? Or will she be rising from the ashes like a Phoenix?

So many questions are left unanswered. Only time will tell what could happen.