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Bengal Left Front releases second list of 32 candidates for assembly polls
Left Front releases second list of 32 candidates for Bengal polls, names SC, ST members and women; talks on remaining seats underway
The West Bengal Left Front on Thursday released its second list of 32 candidates for the two-phase Assembly polls in April, naming five candidates from Scheduled Caste (SC) communities, one Scheduled Tribe (ST) member and three women.
Bengal has 294 seats. Of the 192 candidates announced by Left Front chairman Biman Bose on Monday, 28 are women.
“Discussions are on with Left Front partners and our allies on the remaining seats,” CPI(M) state secretary Md Salim, who released the second list, said.
The Indian Secular Front (ISF), which won one seat in the 2021 state polls, and CPI-ML (Liberation) are contesting the polls as allies of the Left Front.
The Front’s first list featured some prominent young CPI(M) leaders such as Dipshita Dhar, Mayukh Biswas, Sayandip Mitra, Kalatan Dasgupta, Minakshi Mukherjee and Saptarshi Deb.
Former CPI(M) Lok Sabha member and tribal leader Pulin Behari Baske figured among senior leaders named in the second list.
The CPI(M) and its Left Front partners—which include the Communist Party of India (CPI), All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP)—could not win any seats in 2021, like the Congress, which was their electoral ally in Bengal at the time.
The Congress has announced that it will not have any tie-up with the Left this year. However, the grand old party has not announced its candidates so far.
