CPM proposes ‘no mutual contest’ to Congress for six Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal 

Sitaram Yechury.

New Delhi: For the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), on Monday, proposed “no mutual contest” for the six seats currently held by Congress and the Left Front in West Bengal. This move indicates an understanding between the two political camps in the state to consolidate anti-BJP votes.

While the Left party’s Kerala unit has been opposing any pact with the Congress, both the Congress and the CPM in West Bengal are pushing for a tactical tie-up. The decision was taken at a Central Committee meeting of the party on March 3-4.

The CPM general secretary, Sitaram Yechury, said, “In West Bengal, the Central Committee had earlier decided that the CPM will adopt suitable tactics to ensure the maximization of the pooling of anti-BJP, anti-TMC votes.”

“In accordance with this, the CPM proposes no mutual contest in the present six sitting Lok Sabha seats, currently held by Congress and the Left Front,” he added.

It is still not clear whether the proposal has already got support of the Congress, but the two parties had a similar tactical understanding in the 2016 assembly polls.

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