Congress-Left Front decide to contest 116 seats in Bengal; Talks still remain

Kolkata, Jan 28: The Congress and the Left Front have decided to field candidates in 116 seats for the upcoming state assembly elections. For the rest 77 seats, talks between the two parties are still on, state Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has announced.

In the earlier meeting, decision was taken on 77 seats (44 Congress + 33 Left). These seats were won by them in the 2016 state assembly elections.

While the Congress had won 44 seats, the Left Front had won 33 seats in the last assembly elections in 2016.

The state assembly elections are just around the corner. The Congress and the Left Front partners, headed by the CPI(M), contested as allies in the 2016 assembly polls but could not stop the TMC from retaining power with 211 out of the state's 294 seats.

Since the Congress benefited more from the alliance and wrested 44 seats, the tie-up did not last.

For the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the principal contenders in the upcoming West Bengal assembly election, change in vote share of the Left and the Congress may play a crucial role although the latter has weakened significantly in the districts since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls