Kolkata: By-polls to five Assembly constituencies of West Bengal will be held May 19 and the votes there will be counted along with those of all the Lok Sabha seats, the Election Commission said, late Saturday evening. Incidentally May 19, is the seventh and last phase of polling to be conducted in the country.
The five Assembly seats – Darjeeling, Islampur, Kandi, Habibpur (ST) and Bhatpara – fell vacant after the sitting MLAs resigned following their nomination to contest the Lok Sabha elections.
Polling for the parliamentary constituencies of Darjeeling and Raiganj were held, April 18. The Islampur assembly seat falls under Raiganj LS constituency. Kandi Assembly segment is under Baharampur Lok Sabha constituency where polling will be conducted in the fourth phase, April 29.
Habibpur falls under Malda Uttar parliamentary seat and Bhatpara under the Barrackpore Lok Sabha constituency. These two seats will go to polls April 23 and May 6 respectively.
The EC said the notification for the by-polls will be issued on April 22. While the last day for filing nomination will be April 29, the last date of withdrawal of candidature will be May 2.
