Three-tier security deployed ahead of Dharmanagar bypoll vote count tomorrow

A three-tier security arrangement has been put in place ahead of the counting of votes for the April 9 bypoll to the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency in North Tripura district, scheduled for Monday.

North Tripura District Magistrate & Collector Chandni Chandran, who is the District Election Officer, along with Returning Officer Debjani Choudhury, said that Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Tripura State Rifles, and state Police personnel in adequate numbers would be deployed in the three-tier security arrangements in and around the counting centre.

Prohibitory orders have been imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) within a 100-metre radius of the counting centre from 6 a.m. on May 4 till the end of the counting of votes to ensure peaceful vote counting.

"Under the restrictions, movement of vehicles, public gatherings, and carrying of weapons have been prohibited. However, officials on duty, security personnel, and emergency services have been exempted from the order," the order said.

Choudhury, who is the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Dharmanagar Sub-Division, said that 14 counting tables were set up in the counting centre at the district headquarters, and votes recoded in 55 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) would be counted in four phases.

The District Magistrate already held several meetings and reviewed the counting arrangements to make the process foolproof.

Around 80 per cent of the 46,142 voters, including 23,758 women, exercised their vote in the bypoll for the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency in North Tripura district on April 9. The bypoll was necessitated by the demise of sitting MLA and Tripura Assembly Speaker Biswa Bandhu Sen, who passed away on December 26 last year at a private hospital in Bengaluru after a prolonged illness at the age of 72. Sen had been elected to the Tripura Assembly four times -- twice as a Congress candidate in 2008 and 2013, and later in 2018 and 2023 as a BJP nominee from the same Assembly constituency.

The Dharmanagar Assembly constituency has remained a stronghold of either the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2008, with the CPI-M last winning the Assembly seat in 2003. A multi-cornered contest has made the electoral battle highly competitive. The six candidates in the fray include nominees from major political parties, smaller outfits, and an Independent candidate. Key candidates include Jahar Chakraborti of the BJP, Chayan Bhattacharjee of the Congress, and Amitabha Datta representing the CPI-M-led Left Front.

Datta had won the seat in the 2003 Assembly elections. Chakraborti, 59, currently serves as the BJP's North Tripura district Vice-President. In addition, candidates from the Amra Bangali party, Socialist Unity Centre of India-Communist, and an Independent aspirant are also contesting the bypoll, further intensifying the political contest

The Left Front and the Congress, which had entered into a seat-sharing arrangement during the 2023 Tripura Assembly elections to jointly challenge the BJP, contested separately in this bypoll, adding another dimension to the contest. Supported by the Left parties, Congress leader Chayan Bhattacharjee had earlier contested the Dharmanagar Assembly seat in 2023 but lost narrowly to BJP candidate Biswa Bandhu Sen by a margin of 956 votes.