Dhupguri bypoll: 51% voting till 1 pm

Kolkata: Barring some stray incidents, the polling for the bypoll to Dhupguri Assembly constituency in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri district on Tuesday was going on peacefully with the polling percentage being recorded at a high of 51.12 per cent till 1 p.m.

Political observers feel that the polling percentage recorded so far is quite high considering that the polling percentage generally remains low in by- elections. With several more hours left for the scheduled polling time to end and if the same trend persists, it can be easily said that the final polling percentage will surpass 85 per cent or even more, said an official of the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal.

On Tuesday afternoon, BJP candidate Tapasi Roy filed a complaint at the office of CEO, West Bengal, state police personnel were present at a number of polling booths and they were also checking the voters’ identity cards of the voters lining up in front of the booth. First she protested following which she had a heated discussion with the additional superintendent of Jalpaiguri (rural) Wangden Bhutia in front of a polling booth. Later she filed the complaint with the CEO, West Bengal, claiming that deployment of state police personnel in the polling booth was a clear violation of the election norms.

However, the district police superintendent of Jalpaiguri Khandbahale, Umesh Ganpat claimed just one staff from the state forces was deployed in certain booths to assist in managing voters’ queues. The office of the CEO, West Bengal has sought a detailed report from the observers in the matter.

The bypoll to the Dhupguri had been necessitated by the sudden demise of the erstwhile BJP legislator Bishnu Pada Roy on July 25.  The Dhupguri bypoll is witnessing a three cornered fight between BJP, Trinamool Congress and Congress- backed CPI(M).