BJP leads in both seats in Tripura bypolls, CPI(M) boycotts counting alleging rigging

The BJP on Friday morning was leading in both assembly seats in Tripura's Sepahijala district where bypolls were held, according to the Election Commission.

After four rounds of counting, BJP's Tafajjal Hossain was leading by 25,478 votes in the Boxanagar seat. CPI(M) candidate Mizan Hossain was at the second spot.

In the Dhanpur seat, BJP's Bindu Debnath was ahead by 14,384 votes after four rounds of counting. CPI(M)'s Kaushik Chanda was trailing.

The counting of votes began at 8 am, and six rounds of counting will be held in the two seats. The polling for the by-elections was held on September 5. An average turnout of 86.50 per cent was recorded in the two seats.

The counting was being held at the Sonamura Girls' School amid tight security.

Alleging large-scale rigging during the polling and inaction by the Election Commission, the opposition CPI(M) was boycotting the counting of votes. The two seats are witnessing a one-on-one fight between the ruling BJP and the CPI(M) with the other two opposition parties, Tipra Motha and Congress, not fielding any candidates.

Sepahijala's District Magistrate Vishal Kumar said all steps have been taken to complete the counting smoothly and transparently.

"Tight security arrangements have been made to ensure peace during the counting and after the counting," he told PTI.

The by-election to the Boxanagar constituency was necessitated by the death of CPI(M) MLA Samsul Haque. Union Minister Pratima Bhoumik's resignation as the MLA of Dhanpur necessitated the by-election in that seat.

The Boxanagar seat has 66 per cent minority voters of a total of 43,087 electors.

The Dhanpur constituency, once considered a stronghold of the Left, has over 8,000 tribal voters of the total 50,346 electors. The BJP won the seat for the first time in the assembly polls held seven months ago.

The BJP has 31 MLAs in the 60-member assembly, and its ally IPFT has one member. On the other side, the opposition Tipra Motha has 13 MLAs, CPI(M) has 10 and the Congress has three MLAs.