For seat-sharing deal, CPM sets eyes on Congress’s poll panel meet

Shubhadeep Choudhury

New Delhi, March 18

A seat-sharing arrangement between the Congress and the CPM-led Left front in West Bengal is likely to be given final shape after the meeting of Congress party’s central election committee in Delhi on Tuesday. While the TMC and the BJP are off the ground with the TMC having announced candidates for all 42 seats and the BJP for 20 constituencies, the Left alliance with the Congress and Nawsad Siddique-led Indian Secular Front (ISF) is yet to materialise. The Left front, comprising the CPM, CPI, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Bloc, went ahead and unilaterally announced a list of 16 candidates for Bengal last week.

The Congress, which has two Lok Sabha MPs in the state, has demanded 12 seats. While arrangements regarding eight of the 12 seats have been agreed upon by the Congress and the CPM – both constituents of the INDIA bloc – differences continue to remain on the remaining four seats. The Congress is yet to announce its Bengal candidates

The CPM wants to finish the seat-sharing talks with the Congress before the latter’s meeting tomorrow evening so that the apex body could okay the number of seats the Congress would contest in Bengal.

The ISF is also expected to join the two INDIA bloc partners. The ISF, Left front and the Congress had jointly fought the 2021 Assembly polls in Bengal and only the ISF managed to win a seat.

Siddique is expected to contest from Diamond Harbour seat. The Left front is also plagued with problems “within” regarding seat allocation.