Kolkata: After the second round of counting for the bypoll to the Dhupguri Assembly constituency in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, the BJP candidate Tapasi Roy is ahead of Trinamool Congress’ Nirmal Chandra Roy by a margin of 1,018 votes.
After the second round of counting, the total number of votes going in favour of BJP was 18,165 as against 17,147 votes for the Trinamool Congress.
The Congress-backed CPI(M) candidate Ishwar Chandra Roy is in the distant third position after the second round securing just 2,089. The trend indicates a close contest between the BJP and Trinamool Congress.
Altogether there will be ten rounds of counting and the final results are expected to be declared by around 2 p.m., said an official from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal.
“Morning shows the day,” was the initial reaction of Tapasi Roy, the widow of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan Jagannath Roy, who was martyred in a terror attack at Lawaypora in Jammu & Kashmir on March 25, 2021.
However, Trinamool Congress leadership has claimed that the scenario will change in the forthcoming rounds of counting.
The bypolls to Dhupguri were necessitated by the sudden demise of the erstwhile BJP legislator Bishnu Pada Roy on July 25. He came to Kolkata to participate in the monsoon session of West Bengal Assembly and was admitted to a city-based hospital after he complained of chest pain. He died soon after at the hospital. The Dhupguri bypoll is witnessing a three cornered fight among Trinamool Congress, BJP and Congress- backed CPI(M).
In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, BJP’s Bishnu Pada Roy defeated Trinamool Congress’ sitting MLA Mitali Roy by a margin of 4,355 votes. Being denied re-nomination in the bypolls, Mitali Roy joined BJP just a couple of days ago.
–IANS