Seat-sharing talks between CPI(ML), Left Front make no headway ahead of Bengal polls

Despite several rounds of talks within the Left Front over a seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly election, there has been no headway, CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya told The Hindu. His remarks come days after CPI(M) general secretary M. A. Baby said that the expanded Left Front in West Bengal was likely to include the CPI(ML).

The CPI(ML) has been a minor player in West Bengal politics and has not been part of the Left Front. The only CPI(ML) leader to have won an Assembly seat in the State was Santosh Rana in 1977.

The Left Front has fared poorly in the last two Assembly elections. In 2021, the Left parties drew a blank, while the Indian Secular Front (ISF), a new entrant to the alliance, won one seat. In 2016, the CPI(M)-led Mahajot won 76 of the 277 seats it contested, though there were friendly contests in over a dozen constituencies. The West Bengal Assembly has 294 seats.

Addressing a press conference last Friday, Mr. Baby said that in an effort to improve its electoral performance, the Left Front was trying to include newer partners, including the CPI(ML).

However, in an interview with The Hindu, Mr. Bhattacharya said that discussions had made no progress so far, even as the election date draws close. The elections are expected to be held in April. According to him, the CPI(ML) had asked for 12 seats, while the CPI(M) was willing to concede only four. “Despite multiple rounds of talks, the negotiations have made no headway because of the CPI(M)’s inflexible stance. There is little agreement on either the number of seats we will contest or on identifying those,” Mr. Bhattacharya said.

There are also tactical differences between the two sides. While the CPI(ML) refuses to bracket the ruling TMC and the BJP together—viewing the possibility of a BJP government in West Bengal as a bigger threat to the Left movement—the CPI(M) has focused its attack primarily on the Trinamool Congress.

“Any seat arrangement cannot be entirely on their terms. If this does not work out, we are even willing to work with a partial agreement where we contest a few seats and extend support to them in others, similar to the 2021 model,” Mr. Bhattacharya said. In 2021, the CPI(ML) contested 24 seats and extended support in 12 constituencies to the CPI(M)-led Sanjukta Morcha, which managed to win only 10% of the vote share.