Congress releases list of 13 candidates for West Bengal Assembly elections

The Congress party on Saturday released a list of candidates for the first and second phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections fielding 13 candidates in the fray for the upcoming polls. Candidates for constituencies such as Bankura, Bishnupur, Sabang, Moyna, Kakdwip, Purulia amongst others have been released.

The development comes hours after the Central Election Committee (CEC) of Congress held a meeting to finalise the names of candidates for the first two phases of the West Bengal and Assam Assembly polls. This is the grand old party's first list for the State polls. It holds 92 seats in the alliance with the Left parties in the State.

Read: West Bengal Assembly Polls 2021: Congress+ Left+ ISF Alliance Finalized

Read: Assam: Sushmita Dev Miffed With Congress-AIUDF Seat Pact; Party Refutes Her Resignation

Congress-Left tie-up in Bengal

In West Bengal, the Congress has stitched an alliance with Left parties namely the CPI(M) and the newly floated India Secular Front (ISF) founded by Furfura Sharif Cleric Abbas Siddiqui. While its ties are solid with the CPM, Congress' tie-up with the ISF, sent ripples within the party and once again brought to the fore, the rift within the party.

This came after senior Congress leader Anand Sharma expressed 'disappointment' over the alliance saying that such alliances militate against the 'core ideology of the party and Gandhian and Nehruvian secularism, that form to be the soul of the party.' This was strongly countered by Bengal Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary who accused him of 'helping the BJP agenda'. However, Chowdhury himself was seen miffed over Siddiqui's entry onto the stage during the Left Front's rally in Kolkata. Upstaged by the latter, he staged a walk-out with Left Front chairman Biman Bose asking him to speak later. ISF's Siddiqui has claimed 30 seats in the alliance with the seat-sharing talks still underway. 

Meanwhile, the alliance has also announced the names of constituencies from where each party will contest for the first two phases of the Assembly election in West Bengal. Consensus on some seats is yet to be arrived at by the alliance partners, as per sources. The Left Front has also announced the names of candidates for the seats allotted to it.

Elections to the 294 seats in West Bengal will be held in eight phases across 1,01,916 polling stations from March 27 to April 29. The counting of votes in both states will take place on May 2.

Read: ISF Shrugs Off 'communal' Tag Amid Congress Rift On Tie-up; Blames BJP & TMC's IT Cell

Read: 'Congress A Third Front In WB,' TMC's Saugata Roy Opines On Rift Amid Alliance With ISF