After the first round of counting for the bypoll to Dhupguri Assembly constituency in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district, the BJP candidate Tapasi Roy is marginally ahead of the ruling Trinamool Congress candidate.

The first round involves the counting of postal ballots.

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At the end of the counting, 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, is ahead of the Trinamool Congress candidate Nirmal Chandra Roy, a professor at the Dhupguri Girls College, by 310 votes.

There will be a total of 10 rounds of counting. A total of 100 counting officials has been engaged for the purpose. The counting will be done in 14 tables in two separate rooms of the counting centre.

The polling percentage for the by-elections for Dhupguri on September 5 was 78.19 per cent, compared to a high of 88 per cent in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls.

The bypolls to Dhupguri had been 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 the 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.