A Rajya Sabha by-election is set to take place coinciding with Durga Puja festivities in West Bengal. The Election Commission has announced the schedule for the by-election to the seat vacated by former Trinamool MP Koel Mallick; the poll is slated for October 16, which is also the date for Durga Shashthi — part of the festivities.
Last February, the Trinamool, then the ruling party in West Bengal, announced actress Mallick’s name as a Rajya Sabha candidate alongside former State Police DG Rajeev Kumar, former state minister Babul Supriyo, and Supreme Court lawyer Menaka Guruswamy. Following the Trinamool’s rout in the Assembly elections, Rajya Sabha MPs began resigning from their seats one after another. Prior to her, Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev, and Prakash Chik Baraik had also resigned from the Rajya Sabha; the BJP subsequently sent all three back to the House. Speculation and discussions regarding whether the BJP would send Mallick to the Rajya Sabha just as they had done with Sukhendu and the others had begun the moment the actress resigned. However, Mallick did not attend a single parliamentary session during that period. The ongoing Monsoon Session could have been her first, but she resigned from her parliamentary seat before it began.
Mallick also stepped down as a Rajya Sabha MP on July 16.
The Rajya Sabha election took place last March, and she had been a Member of Parliament since then.
