Trinamool Congress delegation to meet Election Commission on July 15 to press for bypolls

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee needs to get elected to the assembly by November 4 to continue as the Chief Minister of Bengal.

Kolkata: A Trinamool Congress delegation will meet Election Commission officials on July 15 to demand conduct of bypolls and pending elections to seven assembly seats of West Bengal, as the Covid situation has eased considerably. The byelections are of critical importance to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who lost the assembly poll to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram. The Constitution allows a person to occupy a ministerial position only up to six months without getting elected to a state legislature or the two Houses of Parliament. It mandates that a minister who is not a member of legislature for six consecutive months shall cease to occupy the position at the expiration of that period. Banerjee needs to get elected to the assembly by November 4 to continue as the chief minister.