Congress, Left agree Bengal polls formula for 193 seats; Rahul & Priyanka to visit Kolkata

After discussing their last leg of seat-sharing, Congress and Left parties on January 28 said that among 193 seats, the Left will fight in 101 and Congress will contest in 92 seats. The final seat-sharing announcement will be done by the end of this week. On their proposed Brigade parade ground rally in Kolkata, both parties confirmed the date as February 28 and said that Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will attend it. 

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Earlier, on January 25, Congress and the Left Front alliance announced that they will stay on the seats which they had won in the 2016 Assembly Election. West Bengal state Congress Committee president Pradip Bhattacharya said, "For now, we agree on the principle that the 77 seats that won by Congress and the Left parties in 2016 Assembly elections will be in same status quo. Right now it's not possible to talk about the exact numbers. The sharing of the rest 217 seats will be concluded by January 31." In the press conference, it was also announced that Congress and the Left parties will hold a mega joint rally at Brigade parade ground in Kolkata at the end of February. 

During the 2016 assembly elections, the two parties had stitched an alliance and bagged 76 seats. However, during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the two parties had fought separately and the Congress won two seats, the Left Front, which ruled the state from 1977-2011, drew a blank.

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West Bengal Assembly elections 

The BJP has claimed it'll win 200 seats, while the Trinamool, via Prashant Kishor has contended that the saffron party won't cross 99. West Bengal assembly with 294 seats will go to polls in April-May 2021, Trinamool holds 222 seats. BJP has made major inroads in the state in the Lok Sabha elections winning 18 seats and establishing itself as the major opposition force in the state. Mamata Banerjee has announced that she will contest polls from Nandigram, the place that paved way for her rule in the state, and her ex-aide Suvendu Adhikari - who is now in BJP - has vowed to defeat her. 

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