Counting of votes for the Tripura's Dharmanagar Assembly by-election in Dharmanagar began at 8:00 AM today amid tight security arrangements, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate taking an early lead after the first round.
According to initial results, Jahar Chakraborty of the Bharatiya Janata Party secured 12,951 votes, leading by 9,442 votes. His closest rival, Chayan Bhattacharya from the Indian National Congress, received 8909 votes.
Other candidates in the fray include:
- Amitabha Datta of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) with 2618 votes
- Bivas Ranjan Das (Amra Bangali) with 137 votes
- Sanjay Chowdhury (SUCI-C) with 127 votes
- Brajlal Debnath (Independent) with 62 votes
- NOTA recorded 185 votes
The by-election for the 56-Dharmanagar Assembly constituency was held on April 9 and witnessed a voter turnout of 80.04%. The poll was necessitated following the demise of former MLA and Speaker of the Tripura Legislative Assembly, Biswa Bandhu Sen.
Returning Officer Debjani Chowdhury stated that counting is being conducted strictly as per guidelines of the Election Commission of India. A total of 14 tables have been set up for Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) counting.
To ensure a smooth and peaceful counting process, authorities have deployed a three-layer security arrangement in and around the counting center, covering a radius of up to 100 meters.
Further rounds of counting are underway, and more updates are expected as the process continues.
