The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday proposed “no mutual contest” for six Lok Sabha seats held by the Congress and the Left Front in West Bengal for the upcoming General Elections. The Lok Sabha elections are expected to be held in April and May.
“In West Bengal, the Central Committee had earlier decided that the CPI(M) will adopt suitable tactics to ensure the maximisation of the pooling of anti-Bharatiya Janata Party and anti-Trinamool Congress votes,” CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said, according to PTI. “In accordance with this, the CPI(M) proposes no mutual contest in the present six sitting Lok Sabha seats, currently held by Congress and the Left Front.”
The CPI(M) will decide on the remaining seats on March 8. The decision not to contest the six seats was taken at a meeting of the party’s central committee on March 3 and 4, according to PTI. There are 42 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
Yechury added that the party is in negotiations with the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar to contest the Ujiarpur seat in Samastipur district, and is also in talks with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu. The DMK has already announced an alliance with the Congress last month.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, the Congress won the Uttar Maldaha, Maldaha Dakshin, Baharampur and Jangipur seats. The Left Front won only the Raiganj and Murshidabad seats, losing 13 seats from its 2009 tally of 15.
On Sunday, The Indian Express had reported that the CPI(M) had decided against vacating the Raiganj and Murshidabad seats during its committee meeting.
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