“I am ready to conduct municipal polls once the bypolls are completed. There are by-polls due in seven seats,” Mamata Banerjee said at state secretariat Nabanna.
Bhawanipore seat was vacated by Sobhon Deb Chattopadhyay for Mamata Banerjee, who will contest the by-election from this seat. Banerjee, who lost the Nandigram seat during the recently-concluded assembly polls, needs to get elected to the assembly within six months.
Several other seats have been vacated following the death of the candidates.
Affirming that the situation in the state is conducive for holding the bypolls, Banerjee said, “From 33% Covid positivity rate during eight-phase Bengal assembly polls, we have brought it down to 3.61%. It will further go down to 1% in 10 days. There are certain bypolls remaining and they must be completed. We want only seven days for campaigning. But the EC will not hold the bypolls without the permission of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
The Mamata Banerjee government also launched a credit card with `10 lakh credit limit for students for their education. Meanwhile, Banerjee wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday seeking his intervention for early approval of Covaxin by the World Health Organization, without which students, who have taken the Covaxin jab, may face problems travelling abroad.