West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said that Higher Secondary Examinations of the state boards are being rescheduled due to by-elections to the Asansol Lok Sabha seat and the Ballygunge assembly constituency. Questioning why the by-polls were not conducted along with the five state assembly polls, she accused the Election Commission of India of taking directions from the BJP.
"Whatever BJP suggests, EC schedules election dates accordingly. They are thinking of instigating riots. It is sad, the ECI could have seen the exam schedules before fixing polling dates," she told reporters.
Ms Banerjee added that central security forces will start arriving in the state for the April 12 by-polls and will have to be accommodated in schools. "So, it will be difficult to conduct examinations," she said.
She claimed that the state Chief Secretary has written a letter to the EC on this issue.
"I would say sorry. We apologise to the student and their families that we couldn't do anything," she said.
The Class 12 board examinations were scheduled to be held from April 2-26, while the by-polls will be held on April 12 and votes will be counted on April 16.
AdvertisementThe TMC has fielded Shatrughan Sinha in the Asansol constituency and Babul Supriyo in the Ballygunge seat. The CPI(M) has named Saira Shah Halim in Ballygunge and Partha Mukherjee in Asansol. The BJP is yet to name its candidates.
The by-poll was necessitated in the Asansol constituency as Babul Supriyo resigned as the BJP MP after joining the TMC. The Ballygunge seat is going to the by-elections as incumbent MLA and state minister Subrata Mukherjee died in November last year.
