West Bengal Assembly polls: Left Front announces 1st list of 192 candidates

With the West Bengal Assembly elections weeks away, opposition parties on Monday sharpened their political messaging, with the Left Front announcing its first list of 192 candidates while the Congress claimed it would emerge as a decisive force in the next government.

The Left Front’s candidate list includes several prominent figures, notably outgoing Rajya Sabha MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya and CPI(M) central committee member Minakshi Mukherjee.

Bhattacharya will contest from Jadavpur in the southern fringes of Kolkata, a seat the Left hopes to turn into a key battleground in the urban south. Mukherjee, one of the most recognisable young faces of the Left, has been fielded from Uttarpara in Hooghly district.

Mukherjee had previously contested from Nandigram in the 2021 assembly elections — the high-voltage seat where Trinamool Congress supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee lost to BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari — and finished third in the triangular contest.

In a politically symbolic move, the Left Front has nominated Sabina Yasmin from Kaliganj. Yasmin is the mother of six-year-old Tamanna, who was killed in a crude bomb blast allegedly hurled from a victory rally on the day of counting for the Kaliganj byelection last June, which the Trinamool Congress won.

Left Front chairman Biman Bose said the remaining candidates would be announced within three to four days as seat-sharing discussions among allies are finalised.

Polling for the West Bengal Assembly elections will take place in two phases on 23 and 29 April, with counting scheduled for 4 May.

Meanwhile, the Congress sought to position itself as a potential power broker in the post-poll scenario. AICC general-secretary in charge of West Bengal G.A. Mir claimed the party would significantly improve its electoral performance and could hold the balance of power in the next Assembly.

“We secured only 4.5 per cent vote share last time, but this election we expect more than 15 per cent vote share,” Mir told reporters in Anantnag in south Kashmir. “Last time, we could not win a single seat. But this time we will get a good, respectable number if God wills and the people of Bengal vote in a good way.”

Mir asserted that no government in West Bengal would be possible without Congress support. “As of today, we will not say that we will get 148 seats directly, but we will emerge as a respectable and strong party. I feel that no government will be formed without the Congress,” he said.

The Congress leader also claimed that both the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP were facing strong anti-incumbency sentiment in the state. “The TMC has been in power for 15 years and many promises made to the people have not been kept. They were not able to provide employment or begin industrialisation,” he said. “The same goes for the BJP. They make big speeches but don’t do anything.”

He further alleged that the Centre owes nearly Rs 2 lakh crore to West Bengal under various welfare schemes. “The BJP government has not given a single paisa to West Bengal for the last three years for MGNREGA,” he said.

Claiming that voters were now looking for an alternative to both the state and the Central ruling parties, Mir said Congress would soon unveil a roadmap for governance in the state. “The people of Bengal are intelligent and wise. After testing both governments they want a third option,” he said. “The Congress, which takes everyone along — whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian, rich or poor — is the only way out.”