West Bengal polls: Left, Congress and ISF finalise seat-sharing deal for first two phases

The alliance of the Left Front, Congress and the newly formed Indian Secular Front (ISF) on Friday said that they have worked out a seat-sharing formula for the upcoming West Bengal Polls . According to a report in  The Tribune, Abbas Siddiqui’s ISF has settled with 38 seats, although it had initially pitched for 45 seats. The Congress may contest on 92 seats and the remaining seats will be divided up amongst the constituents of the Left Front. The CPM is likely to contest on 117-120 seats, the CPI about 11, the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) about 14 seats and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) will contest on around 11 seats, the report added. A report in The Statesman also said that the numbers weigh slightly more in the Left Front’s favour. The newspaper reported that the Left will walk away with the largest chunk of 165 out of the 294 seats, leaving Congress with 92 and Siddiqui's ISF with 37 seats. Among the Left parties, CPM would get 130 constituencies, AIFB will field its candidates on 15 seats RSP on 11 and CPI will contest in 9 seats. These figures have not been confirmed by any of the three main constituents of the alliance. Reports say that a final announcement to this effect is likely by the weekend, with neither party denying the possibility of some last-minute changes in these numbers. The parties said that the constituencies from where each party will contest for the first two phases of the Assembly election in West Bengal are nearly final. However, some more work needs to be done to decide on a few seats. The Left Front also announced the candidates for the seats allotted to it in the first two phases. However, the Congress and the ISF will come out with the names of their contestants later, their leaders said. Left Front chairman Biman Bose said that consensus on some seats is yet to be arrived at by the alliance partners. Nandigram, from where Trinamool Congress supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will contest, is one such seat. Meanwhile, the TMC Friday released the list of Trinamool Congress candidates for the upcoming assembly polls for 291 seats with emphasis on youths, minority, women and backward communities. The party has left three seats vacant for candidates of the Bimal Gurung faction of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) in Darjeeling. Assembly elections in the state will be held in eight phases between 27 March and 29 April. Votes will be counted on 2 May. With inputs from PTI