Bypolls: Litmus test for Cong-Left front

Kolkata: It’s a litmus test both for Congress and CPI(M) in the forthcoming six Assembly by-elections after they failed to forge any pre-poll alliance with Congress announcing its nominees on Tuesday night and ending its seat-sharing alliance with CPI(M) since the 2021 Assembly polls.

Apprehensions which were floating in political arenas whether the state is going to witness the electoral bonhomie between the Left Front and Congress have been put to rest after both the parties announced their candidates’ list within a gap of 48 hours. The Congress nominees for the bypolls are Paresh Nath Sarkar for Naihati and Habib Reza Chowdhury for Haroa in North 24-Parganas, Bikash Champro Mary for Madarihat in Alipurduar, Shyamal Kumar Ghosh for Midnapore in West Midnapore, Tusharkanti Sannigrahi for Taldangra in Bankura and Harihar Roy Singha for Sitai in Cooch Behar district.

The stage is set for a four-cornered contest, as the CPI(M)-led Left Front, which had fought elections in alliance with the Congress in previous polls since 2021, announced candidates for five seats on Monday. The TMC and the BJP had earlier announced candidates for all six assembly segments. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, there was no formal understanding but Left did not contest in Congress bastions Berhampore and Malda South, both won by Congress. The two parties also fought the 2024 LS polls together.