Tripura's Dharmanagar Bypoll Heats Up with Multi-Cornered Contest

After the CPI-M-led Left Front, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, on Thursday, announced their candidates for the crucial bypoll, independent aspirants and a few smaller local parties are also expected to enter the fray, further intensifying the contest in the Dharmanagar Assembly seat.

Congress General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal said in a statement that party President Mallikarjun Kharge has approved the candidature of Chayan Bhattacharjee as the party's nominee for the ensuing by-election.

In the 2023 state Assembly elections, the Left Front and the Congress had entered into a seat-sharing arrangement to jointly challenge the BJP in Tripura.

Congress leader Chayan Bhattacharjee had then contested from the Dharmanagar seat as the party nominee but lost to BJP candidate Biswa Bandhu Sen by a narrow margin of 956 votes.

However, for the upcoming bypoll, both the Left Front and the Congress have decided to contest separately.

The CPI-M-led Left Front has fielded former MLA Amitabha Datta, who submitted his nomination on Thursday after holding a massive rally in Dharmanagar, Tripura's second most important commercial town after Agartala.

Meanwhile, the BJP also announced its candidate on Thursday.

According to a press statement issued by BJP General Secretary Arun Singh, Jahar Chakraborti will contest from the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency.

Singh said that the BJP's Central Election Committee, in a meeting chaired by party President Nitin Nabin on Wednesday, finalised candidates for by-elections in four states -- Tripura, Nagaland, Goa and Karnataka.

The meeting was held at the party headquarters in New Delhi on Wednesday and was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, and other senior party members of the committee.

Jahar Chakraborti, 59, who is currently the BJP's North Tripura district Vice-President, will be contesting from Dharmanagar for the second time.

In 2013, Chakraborti, known to be a staunch Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist, had contested from the same Assembly seat but lost to the then Congress candidate Biswa Bandhu Sen.

Chakraborti's wife, Barnali Goswami, had earlier served as the Chairperson of the Tripura State Commission for Women. Soon after his nomination was announced, BJP workers led by Chakraborti organised a rally in Dharmanagar.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha and State BJP President Rajib Bhattacharjee congratulated Jahar Chakraborti on his candidature for the by-election.

The bypoll in the Dharmanagar Assembly constituency was necessitated following the demise of sitting MLA and Assembly Speaker Biswa Bandhu Sen.

Sen, 72, passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru on December 26, 2025, after prolonged illness. He 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 constituency.

A total of 46,143 voters, including 23,763 women, are eligible to cast their votes in the Dharmanagar Assembly by-election.

According to the notification issued by election authorities, the filing of nominations began on March 16, while the last date for submission is March 23.

Scrutiny of nominations will take place on March 24, and the final date for withdrawal of candidatures is March 26. The counting of votes will be held on May 4.

- IANS