Campaigning for Dhupguri Bypolls in North Bengal Endsnewsbhunt

Senior leaders of Trinamool Congress, BJP and the Left-Congress combined on Sunday to crisscross the tea gardens and forested areas of Dhupguri assembly constituency in north Bengal on the last day of campaigning before the September 5 bypolls.

While TMC minister Firhad Hakim and MP Mimi Chakraborty did roadshows and meetings for ruling party candidate Nirmal Chandra Roy, BJP heavyweights Sukanta Majumdar, Suvendu Adhikari and Dilip Ghosh canvassed for their candidate Tapasi Roy.

CPI(M) central committee member Sujan Chakraborty and other senior party leaders campaigned for their candidate Ishwar Chandra Roy.

TMC’s defeated candidate in the 2021 election Mitali Roy, who joined the BJP on Sunday a day after attending TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee’s rally in Dhupguri on Saturday, was seen campaigning for the saffron party candidate.

Heavy security arrangements have been made to ensure peaceful polls in the constituency, dotted with several tea gardens and forest areas in Birpara, Binnaguri and Nagrakata.

A total of 30 companies of central armed police force (CAPF) are to be deployed for the byelection.

It is to be seen whether the three-cornered contest among the TMC, BJP and the Congress-supported CPI(M) will spring a surprise in the results when counting takes place on September 8.

While the TMC and CPI(M) have fielded teachers Nirmal Chandra Roy and Ishwar Chandra Roy, respectively, the BJP has fielded Tapasi Roy, widow of a CRPF jawan who was killed in the Pulwama attack in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019.

The bypoll was necessitated owing to the demise of BJP MLA Bishnupada Roy in the last week of July.

None of the three contesting parties is leaving any stone unturned to win the bypoll.

While TMC MP and No. 2 in the party Abhishek Banerjee held a campaign meeting on Saturday, leader of the opposition in West Bengal assembly and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari and party state president Sukanta Majumdar canvassed for the party candidate till the last day of campaigning on Sunday.

CPI(M) state secretary Mohd Salim and central committee member Sujan Chakraborty were among the leaders who campaigned for the party’s candidate.

Congress state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury also held a joint campaign meeting with Salim for the CPI(M) contender.

In the 2021 elections, the winning BJP candidate from Dhupguri had secured 45.65 per cent votes, while runner-up TMC contender garnered 43.75 per cent.

Though the CPI(M) candidate got only 5.73 per cent votes in the 2021 polls, the Left party is hopeful of making a comeback in the seat which it had held from 1977 to 2016.

While the TMC had won the seat in 2016, it was snatched by the BJP in 2021.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)