KOLKATA: West Bengal Left Front Committee on Friday declared its candidate list for 25 of the 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state. The CPI (M) will contest 16 seats and has left three each to other Left Front constituents — CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP.
In a Press release, Left Front chairman in West Bengal Biman Bose said: “The alliance has been formed so that the anti-BJP and anti-TMC votes do not get divided.”He said that during the discussions over pre-poll alliance, the Congress expressed its desire to contest Purulia and Basirhat seats. However, the Purulia seat has gone into the kitty of the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) while the CPI will field its candidate in Basirhat. However, if Congress thinks it can win these two seats, they can put up their own candidates. Left Front will not field candidates in four of the seats won by the Congress (in 2014),” Bose added. Names for the remaining 17 seats would be declared soon, he said.
The Congress and the CPI(M) have decided to put up a mutually agreed-upon candidate in Darjeeling.
Seats in left kitty
CPI(M): 16 (Jalpaiguri, Raiganj, Murshidabad, Ranaghat, Bongaon, Dumdum, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata South, Uluberia, Hooghly, Arambagh, Bishnupur, Burdwan Purba, Burdwan Durgapur, Birbhum)
CPI: 3 (Medinipur, Ghatal, Basirhat)
RSP: 3 (Alipurduar, Balurghat, Jaynagar)
AIFB: 3 (Coochbehar, Barasat, Purulia)