Kolkata, Sep 22 (IANS) : The Election Commission has announced polling for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from West Bengal that fell vacant following the resignation of actress-turned-politician Koel Mallick in July this year. The by-election will be held on October 16, coinciding with Maha Sashthi, the opening day of the Durga Puja festivities.
The vacancy emerged amid a series of resignations by former Trinamool Congress MPs in the aftermath of the party’s crushing defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections earlier this year.
Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik were among the first to quit the Upper House before subsequently securing re-election as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates.
Koel Mallick, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha in March, resigned in July, triggering speculation that she too could join the BJP and seek re-election from the same seat. The buzz intensified after she met Vice President and Rajya Sabha Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan in New Delhi to submit her resignation on July 16. Soon thereafter, she also met Union Education Minister Bhupendra Yadav, further fuelling talks of a possible switch to the saffron camp.
Whether those speculations translate into reality is likely to become clearer in the run-up to the October 16 election.
The Trinamool Congress had, in February, nominated Koel Mallick for the Rajya Sabha along with former West Bengal Director General of Police Rajeev Kumar, former state Tourism Minister Babul Supriyo, and senior Supreme Court advocate Menaka Guruswamy. All were elected to the Upper House in March.
Notably, despite being a Rajya Sabha member for several months, Mallick did not attend a single parliamentary session before tendering her resignation. The recently concluded Monsoon Session would have been her first opportunity to participate in parliamentary proceedings had she chosen to continue in office.
Along with the Rajya Sabha bypoll in West Bengal, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday also announced the biennial elections for 11 Rajya Sabha seats on October 16.
