KMC polls: Left to contest in 120 wards; leaves 16 seats for allies

kolkata: Announcing the candidate list for 120 wards, Left Front on Friday said it would leave 16 seats for its allies—Congress and ISF—in the forthcoming civic election in Kolkata. Left Front leaders made it clear that their prime rivals are BJP and Trinamool Congress.

Adhir Chowdhury, PCC president, said the leaders of both Left Front and Congress would sit to prepare a roadmap for the election. Though Congress and Left Front had fielded separate candidates in the by-elections, Chowdhury said Congress would forge electoral alliance with the Left Front for all round development of Kolkata and set up democracy.

CPI(M) has introduced several new faces for the civic election. In ward 41 Nehal Ahmed Kaizer is the CPI(M) candidate. The Left Front will not field candidates in wards 43 and 45 which are situated in the core area of Burrabazar and in wards 47, 49, 50, 51, 53— the areas surrounding Sealdah and Entally, where Congress had once a stronghold.

The LF candidates will start campaigning from Saturday. Meanwhile, Meena Devi Purohit, BJP leader and former deputy mayor, and Vijay Ojha, veteran party leader, began writing the walls. Purohit said: "Though the party is yet to name the candidates, we are drawing the lotus and once the candidates are announced we will write the names and start campaigning for them."

All India Majlis- e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) will release the candidate list for the civic polls on November 28. "I have talked to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi over the phone. As per our latest conversation, we will release the AIMIM candidate list on Sunday," said Imran Solanki, state member of AIMIM on Friday. He reiterated that AIMIM will field 30 to 32 candidates for the upcoming KMC elections. The State Election Commission (SEC) announced that KMC polls will be held on December 19.