Kolkata: West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday said that as per discussions held with the Left party so far, total 92 seats have been finalised for Congress to contest the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections. “The list of candidates for these seats will be announced in two days,” he added.
We demanded 130 seats in the beginning, Left front might have accommodated us with more seats but we had to keep the gap for other parties such as RJD and NCP. Now we don’t have to share seats with RJD and NCP but our offer is open for others, he added.
Meanwhile, Left Front Chairman Biman Bose said, “After today’s discussions with Congress, we felt that there won’t be any problem now. We want to proceed further with the alliance.”
Earlier in the day, Chowdhury said, “Talks with Left party on alliance is on. We want to finish the seat-sharing matter with the Left soonest. In 2016 we came into an alliance and this time also things are in the same continuation.”
On Sunday, while addressing a joint rally at the Brigade Parade Ground, Chowdhury said that the grand alliance of the Left- Congress and other secular forces will defeat both the TMC and the BJP in the West Bengal assembly elections. He said the BJP and the ruling TMC desire that apart from these two parties, there should not exist any other political force in the state, which come in their path. “In future, there will not be any BJP or TMC, only the grand alliance will remain,” he asserted.
State of West Bengal would see Assembly elections in eight phases starting from March 27 and concluding on April 29 for its 294 Assembly seats. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.
Importantly Model Code of Conduct (MCC) comes into force immediately after the announcement of the election dates. The commission has made adequate arrangements to ensure effective implementation of MCC guidelines.