Kolkata: Seat-sharing negotiations among Left Front partners, Indian Secular Front (ISF) and CPI (ML) Liberation continued late into the night on Wednesday, with sources indicating that CPM may contest 200 out of 294 seats in the upcoming assembly elections.The negotiations come a day after ISF’s Nawsad Siddique said district-wise seat-sharing would be finalised on Wednesday. Sources said ISF was likely to contest around 30 seats. Siddique had also indicated that alliance partners were “uncomprising” about specific seats, but he was certain that alliance members would want to ensure that two parties within the alliance don’t contest the same seat, as was the case in 2021.
During the 2021 assembly elections, a lack of consensus among allies led to the Left Front and ISF both putting up candidates on some seats. One such seat was Deganga, where the ISF candidate won 31.5% of the vote and the Left Front-backed Forward Bloc candidate won only 1.3% of the vote.Congress — which has decided to contest all 294 seats alone this time — has started working with a focus on 150 key constituencies. Congress members said the party was likely to bring in fresh faces this time.Apart from Murshidabad and Malda, districts where the Congress believes it has a strong organisational base, the party is also focussed on North Dinajpur, where a number of experienced politicians have joined it.Congress also wants to put up a coordinated fight in Purulia. The selection of candidates would be based on performance will be done in a manner that strengthens the organisation in years to come, said a Bengal Congress senior.
