AB Bardhan predicts a left front victory

All Left Front leaders, especially those from the CPI(M), have expressed confidence in forming the eighth Left Front (LF) government.

All Left Front leaders, especially those from the CPI(M), have expressed confidence in forming the eighth Left Front (LF) government. But none apart from the Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary, AB Bardhan, has dared to forecast the possible number of seats that the LF might bag in the West Bengal assembly polls. Bardhan, on Friday, said that Left candidates would emerge victorious in at least 156 out of 294 assembly constituencies.

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Rubbishing recent opinion polls, all of which forecasted the defeat of Left Front, Bardhan alleged that anti-Left forces in the state have sponsored such opinion polls. “Naturally, the forecast would be in favour of those who have sponsored it. There has been many instances in the past, when the actual election results were just opposite to what it was projected in the opinion or exit polls,” he said. Expressing doubts over sample survey, the senior CPI leader described the polls as statistical jugglery.
“I am not saying that the Left Front will sweep the polls and the battle is as simple as what it was earlier. But surely, it will emerge victorious in this battle,” he said. Defending the industrialisation policy of the seventh Left Front government, Bardhan said, “Our industrialisation policy was correct since the state needs industry.”

When questioned whether the CPI is happy with the share of seats in the elections, he said that this is not the time to discuss such things. “My focus now is to strengthen the unity of the Left and, united, we will fight the Opposition in the polls,” he said.