Jalpaiguri district administration makes elaborate security arrangements for Dhupguri bypoll vote counting

The Jalpaiguri district administration is making every effort to guarantee that the Dhupguri bypoll vote counting is carried out peacefully and in accordance with the rules established by the Election Commission of India.

On Friday, the results of the September 5 bypoll will be tallied on the grounds of Netaji Open University, which is located outside the district office in a section of the Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College.

Nirmal Chandra Roy, Tapasi Roy, and Iswar Chandra Roy, candidates for the CPI(M) and Trinamul, respectively, will learn their destinies on Friday.

To preserve peace and order, the government has put in place stringent security measures, issued prohibitory orders near the counting center, and will strategically place police officers.

"Central paramilitary troops will deploy three companies throughout the counting, which will begin tomorrow (Friday) at 8am. Police officers will also be stationed. Within a 200-meter radius of the counting center, prohibitive orders under Section 144 of the CrPC have been enacted, according to an administration source.

According to reports, these preparations were undertaken since the byelection took place soon after the panchayat elections on July 8. Political groups in Bengal's opposition have alleged that irregularities were committed in certain of the state's counting centers during the rural elections. In reality, the Calcutta High Court has received a number of lawsuits challenging these discrepancies.

"Even though the state election commission handled the rural voting, it is clear that the Indian Election Commission is aware of these accusations. Because of this, the government has made every effort to close important gaps and guarantee that the counting is carried out in a fair and impartial way, according to a Jalpaiguri political veteran.

The Tuesday by-election was quiet. On election day, 260 polling places were manned by 260 companies of central paramilitary forces and around 600 state police.

"We anticipate that the counting procedure will go well. At the counting center, the counting will be done in 10 rounds over 14 tables. The procedure will involve around 100 workers. By Friday afternoon, the tendencies would be obvious, the person said.

The counting center is open to the candidates and their authorized representatives. Cell phones, water bottles, and certain other things are prohibited, according to the sources.

The government was asked by Jalpaiguri's BJP representative Jayanta Roy on Thursday to ensure that nobody else entered the counting center but those who were invited.

"We don't want another election like the one in the rural areas. Then, a number of counting centers acknowledged engaging in unethical behavior, according to Roy.