Battle formation

Soon after the elections were announced, West Bengal's Trinamool Congress unveiled its list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Tuesday. New faces and significant ommissions featured in the list as TMC gears up for the battle to 'save democracy' – as reiterated by their chief Mamata Banerjee who is focussed on ousting NDA from power. A list merely announced the representatives of a party that will be instrumental in getting votes for the party. From the micro outlook of elections, it is these representatives and their credibility which will be pivotal besides the party popularity and ideology. Of course, TMC's credibility is well-known in West Bengal but even then, a reinforced approach in choosing the right person for the right place has been followed by the party to ensure the 42 seats of the state. Each name, new or old, has been chosen for its respective constituency with the collective objective of ensuring victory – as should be the case. But Mamata has done the shuffling to ensure victory all the more in a strong attempt to not let BJP grab those seats. The party objective is crystal clear down to the last fragment. Their representation features a 41 per cent representation to women, higher than 35 per cent in 2014, with 7 candidates from the Muslim community and 12 from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The concoction that Mamata has prepared for BJP in her bastion is no less than a formidable fort's strong defence line. Mamata expressed her disappointment at the polling schedule which has pitted West Bengal's polling across all seven phases of the mandate. Her expected criticism was directed towards the saffron party for playing vendetta politics by allegedly influencing the election schedule to disturb the state. She stated the peculiarity of conducting polls in West Bengal with 42 seats in all seven phases but keeping Tamil Nadu's mandate with 39 seats in just one phase. The Election Commission's autonomy certainly cannot be questioned, however, the facts definitely tinker curiosity. Not just West Bengal, Mamata's list fields candidates in other states ensuing from Mamata's improvised ploy and her efforts in uniting opposition parties against BJP prior to the announcement of elections. Targetting seats in other states where usually other regional parties are supposedly stronger is either a desperate move to maximise outreach or aid allies in their battle. With TMC's precise objective, evident through the United India rally and pre-poll mutual agenda of dethroning Modi, Mamata has exercised every inch of her arsenal in giving BJP a tight competition besides her bastion – whichever way possible. TMC has declared candidates for three seats in Jharkhand, six in Assam, two in both Bihar & Odisha as well as a solitary seat of Andaman & Nicobar islands. Mamata has ensured that her efforts in these states do not hurt the regional parties by noting that her party will contest the polls in those states in consultation with allies. Politics might be a civil affair but it involves experienced strategising to ensure that the desired outcome is achieved – much like Military affairs. While it is true that public opinion shapes the outcome graph, still there are additional factors which influence polls and both BJP and TMC will certainly look to utilise it to their advantage. Mamata wants to ensure that BJP does not take advantage of TMC's candidates in the fray since usually multiple candidates by multiple parties only aid fragmentation of votes – a scenario where BJP can capitalise. TMC's representation of time tested politicos along with the support extended to aid parties in other states devises a perfect plot to ensure that BJP is unable to garner votes. Mamata reiterated that her party would not ally with anybody before the election and urged the strong regional parties to take on BJP on their turfs. A post-poll alliance is on the cards for which not just TMC but all the parties will fix their bargaining power in the formation of a coalition government that the united opposition parties desire. It is the common aim to oust BJP that has demanded them to sideline individual differences and unite. It is not very different from what a general military tactic would be in a foreign land where advantage rests with the regional forces. In this context, TMC has assumed the battle formation, all set to fight!