Agartala, May 4 : The ruling BJP candidate Jahar Chakraborti has surged ahead in the Dharmanagar Assembly bypoll, leading by around 18,300 votes over his nearest rival, CPI(M)â??s Amitabha Datta.

The bye-election was held on April 9 and the vote counting is currently underway at the North Tripura district headquarters in Dharmanagar amid tight security arrangements.

According to Election Commission data, Chakraborti has established a significant lead over both Datta and Congress candidate Chayan Bhattacharya. After the second round of counting, Chakraborti secured 24,291 votes, while Datta and Bhattacharya received 6,001 and 5,936 votes respectively.

The counting of votes for the Dharmanagar Assembly bypoll began at 8 A.M. on Monday under tight security arrangements, officials said.

Election officials said that postal ballots were counted first, followed by votes cast in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), and there will be four rounds of counting in the North Tripura district headquarters at Dharmanagar.

Votes will be counted in only one counting hall where 14 counting tables, including one for postal ballots, have been placed.

Each counting table will be supervised and monitored by a counting supervisor and counting assistants. Central observers appointed by the Election Commission will monitor the counting process.

The results are expected to be declared by Monday afternoon.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (Northern Range), Ratiranjan Debnath, told the media that a three-tier security arrangement has been put in place ahead of the counting of votes for the bypoll to the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency in North Tripura district.

North Tripura District Magistrate & Collector Chandni Chandran, who is the District Election Officer, along with Returning Officer Debjani Choudhury, said that the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Tripura State Rifles, and state police personnel in adequate numbers were deployed in the three-tier security arrangements in and around the counting centre.

Prohibitory orders have been imposed under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) within a 100-metre radius of the counting centre from 6 A.M. on Monday till the end of the counting of votes to ensure peaceful vote counting.

Over 80 per cent of the 46,142 voters, including 23,758 women, exercised their vote in the bypoll for the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency in North Tripura district on April 9.

The bypoll was necessitated by the demise of sitting MLA and Tripura Assembly Speaker Biswa Bandhu Sen, who passed away on December 26 last year at a private hospital in Bengaluru after a prolonged illness at the age of 72.

Sen had been elected to the Tripura Assembly four times -- twice as a Congress candidate in 2008 and 2013, and later in 2018 and 2023 as a BJP nominee from the same Assembly constituency.

The Dharmanagar Assembly constituency has remained a stronghold of either the Congress or the BJP since 2008, with the CPI-M last winning the Assembly seat in 2003.

A multi-cornered contest has made the electoral battle highly competitive. The six candidates in the fray include nominees from major political parties, smaller outfits, and an Independent candidate.

Key candidates include Jahar Chakraborti of the BJP, Chayan Bhattacharjee of the Congress, and Amitabha Datta representing the CPI(M)-led Left Front.

Datta had won the seat in the 2003 Assembly elections. Chakraborti, 59, currently serves as the BJP's North Tripura district Vice-President.

In addition, candidates from the Amra Bangali party, Socialist Unity Centre of India-Communist, and an Independent aspirant are also contesting the bypoll, further intensifying the political contest.

The Left Front and the Congress, which had entered into a seat-sharing arrangement during the 2023 Tripura Assembly elections to jointly challenge the BJP, contested separately in this bypoll, adding another dimension to the contest.

Supported by the Left parties, Congress leader Chayan Bhattacharjee had earlier contested the Dharmanagar Assembly seat in 2023 but lost narrowly to BJP candidate Biswa Bandhu Sen by a margin of 956 votes.

/IANS