CPI to contest 35 seats in Punjab polls

Fatehgarh Sahib, Aug 5 (UNI) The Communist Party of India (CPI) today announced to contest 35 of the total 117 seats in the Punjab assembly elections due in February, 2007.

The party would not have an alliance with the ruling Congress, while options were open for electoral understanding with other like-minded secular and left parties, the Punjab CPI spokesman Kartar Singh Buani told reporters here.

He said the decision to contest 35 seats was taken at the party state council meeting yesterday.

It may be mentioned here that the last Assembly and Lok Sabha elections were contested jointly by the Congress and the CPI in Punjab.

In fact, except on a few occasions, the two parties had been jointly contesting Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Punjab but during the State Council meeting of the CPI in January, 2006 , the party had decided to sever its electoral ties with the ruling Congress in the state.

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