Jalpaiguri (West Bengal): The Bharatiya Janata Party sprang a real surprise by fielding Tapasi Roy, the wife of a martyred Army jawan Jagannath Roy, for the byelection in the Dhupguri Assembly seat in the Jalpaiguri district. The announcement was made from the party headquarters in New Delhi.
The Dhupaguri assembly by-election is scheduled for September 5. The by-poll for the seat was announced by the Election Commission of India following the death of Dhupaguri BJP lawmaker Bishnu Pada Roy.
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Bishnu Pada Roy passed away at the SSKM Hospital on July 25 following respiratory problems. After his death, the Dhupaguri assembly seat was left vacant. In 2021, BJP candidate Roy defeated Trinamool Congress candidate Mitali Roy. Roy got 1,04,688 votes, while Mitali Roy polled 1,00,333 votes. Bishnu Pada Roy won by 4,355 votes by securing 46 percent votes, while Mitali got 44 percent votes.
On March 25, 2021, jawans of CRPF's 73rd Battalion were on routine patrolling on the Srinagar-Baramulla National Highway. At that time, CRPF jawan Jagannath Roy, a resident of West Shalbari in Dhupguri, was seriously injured in an attack by Lashkar-e-Taiba militants. After several days of treatment, Jagannath died on March 29.
Earlier, the CPI(M) and the ruling Trinamool Congress announced their candidates for the Dhupguri Assembly byelection. According to sources, several names were emerging from the BJP camp, which included the name of the son of the late Dhupguri Assembly Constituency BJP MLA Bishnu Pada Roy too. But in the end, BJP placed its trust in Tapasi. BJP candidate Tapasi Roy said that she wants to work for the state and the country. "I want to work towards improving the Dhupguri rural hospital," Tapasi said.
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