Left, Congress announce joint candidates for upcoming West Bengal by-polls
Kolkata/IBNS: After having a poor show in the Lok Sabha polls, the Left and the Congress took no chance but formed an alliance ahead for the upcoming by-elections in West Bengal with a sole agenda of defeating Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling parties in the state and Centre respectively.
As earlier was decided, both the parties- which fell out after its alliance didn't succeed in defeating Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool in 2016, announced their joint candidates for the three seats- Karimpur, Kaliaganj and Kharagpur Sadar- which are up for grabs.
While the Congress will contest in Kaliaganj and Kharagpur, the Left will face the battle in Karimpur. The by-polls will be held on Nov 25.
Left Front chairman Biman Bose here on Thursday afternoon announced the name of CPI-M candidate Golam Rabbi, who is a lawyer by profession, for the Karimpur seat.
Shankar Malakar and Shubhankar Sarkar will be the Congress candidates for the rest of the two seats.
With an intent to concentrate its votes with one and a half years left for the next assembly elections, Bose said, "I urge all people who are against the BJP and Trinamool to support us."
The Karimpur and Kharagpur seats fell vacant after the leaders of Trinamool and BJP, Mahua Moitra and Dilip Ghosh respectively, resigned as they were elected as the Lok Sabha MPs in 2019.
The Kaliaganj seat fell vacant after Congress veteran and MLA, Pramathanath Roy, passed away in May this year.
Congress state president and veteran politician, Somen Mitra, said both the parties will have to fight together to defeat the Trinamool and the BJP, which are often accused of playing divisive politics in the state.
The three by-polls will be the first political contest in the state after the Lok Sabha polls in which the BJP emerged as the prime challenger to the West Bengal's ruling party Trinamool.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had managed to win just two seats while the Left was wiped out of the state.
The BJP had won 18 seats just four less than the Trinamool.
The results of the by-polls will be declared on Nov 28.
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