Over 74 per cent voting in Dhupguri bypoll

 The state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has sought a report from the Jalpaiguri District Magistrate on the altercation between the BJP candidate and the police officer lasted for at least 15 minutes.

PTI & Agencies, JALPAIGURI, 5 September 2023 : Around 76 per cent of 2.6 lakh eligible voters exercised their franchise in the by-election to the Dhupguri assembly seat in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district till 5 pm on Tuesday, an official said. 

Two BJP leaders including an MLA, who are not residents of the constituency, were found in a party office. One of them, the BJP district president, had to leave as he could not show any document allowing him entry into Dhupguri during the voting."

Till 5 pm, 75.82 per cent of votes were cast.”

The voting passed off peacefully barring some stray incidents of altercation. With the polling hours having been extended by the Election Commission of India till 6:30pm, the voting turnout figures are likely to go up, the

officials said.

At booth number 182 of Dhupguri Bairatiguri High School, three electronic voting machines (EVMs) were reported to be faulty shortly after the polling started. New EVMs were brought in about an hour so as to resume voting, it is learnt. The BJP lodged a complaint with the EC against Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural) Wangden Bhutia for allegedly intimidating party candidate Tapasi Roy.

Roy alleged that she saw some police personnel deployed at the entrance of a polling station and checking the IDs of voters. When Roy asked the police personnel to stay at least 200 meters from the polling booth, ASP Bhutia asked the BJP candidate not to interfere in security arrangements and the election procedure.

Bhutia told her: “You can not ask the police to leave the place of their duty. You are not the competent authority. You are merely a candidate. We don’t have instructions related to the 200-metre distance. You can lodge a complaint with the observer or with the EC. But you can’t interfere and disturb police arrangements. We will withdraw our personnel if the Commission says so.”

The altercation between the BJP candidate and the police officer lasted for at least 15 minutes, eyewitnesses said. The state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has sought a report from the Jalpaiguri District Magistrate on the issue.

In a complaint to the ECI, the BJP said, “ASP Bhutia is clearly seen threatening Tapasi Roy, and rebuking her that she is nothing more than a candidate and cannot raise questions on policing or security. As per guidelines, the police’s role is limited to maintaining order and not checking IDs. He should be removed from duty and sent outside the district.”

The Trinamool Congress in a press release said, “People came in large numbers to cast their votes for the development of Dhupguri. Their support is a testimony of their faith in our candidate Nirmal Chandra Roy.”

Polling began, amid tight security, at 7 am across 260 booths in the constituency, and the poll percentage stood at 17.25 till 9 am, he said. 'The polling has been peaceful so far. No untoward incident has been reported,' the Election Commission official said....

CPI (M)'s Ishwar Chandra Roy is contesting as the candidate of the Congress-Left alliance, while the ruling TMC has fielded Nirmal Chandra Roy, a teacher by profession. The BJP has nominated Tapasi Roy, the widow of a CRPF jawan who died fighting terrorists in Kashmir a few years back. 

The bypoll to the seat was necessitated by the death of its sitting BJP MLA, Bishu Pada Ray, earlier this year.

Dhupguri, a scheduled caste-reserved seat, has nearly 50 per cent Rajbanshi people and 15 per cent minority population. 

The BJP had snatched the constituency from the TMC in the 2021 assembly polls. 

Votes will be counted on September 8.