CPI(M) West Bengal secretary Md. Selim on Wednesday announced the party’s plan to field a candidate in the Kaliganj bypoll, to be held in June, with the support of the Congress party, citing their strong performance in the Lok Sabha elections 2024.
However, the Congress has yet to confirm whether they will support the CPIM candidate.
The Election Commission on Sunday announced June 19 as the date for the by-election to the Kaliganj Assembly seat in Nadia district of West Bengal.
“We have fought in the Panchayat and the Lok Sabha election there and did well. In the 2016 Assembly election, the Congress won the seat, but their MLA joined TMC. So, we think if we can file a candidate there and fight unitedly, we can defeat the BJP as well as the TMC there,” Selim said.
“We had a state committee meeting and Left Front meeting on Wednesday. There also we spoke on this and will approach the Congress,” he added.
“In the Lok Sabha election in 2024, our candidate for Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat, S M Sadi secured the highest votes in Kaliganj, which is more than 18% of total votes. So, we are assuming we will do well in Kaliganj bypoll and definitely we will file a candidate there,” a senior CPIM leader said.
Congress leader Soumya Aich Roy said, “Traditionally, Kaligunj is our seat. I think everything can be resolved through talks. But, an alliance is necessary to fight against the BJP and TMC.”
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), a Left Front ally, also has extended support to CPIM, stating they will back the party’s candidate in the Kaligunj bypoll if CPIM decides to field one.
Kaligunj has traditionally been a Congress stronghold, with the party winning the seat in 2016 as part of a Left Front alliance. Notably, the Left ally RSP had previously won the seat four times during the Left regime.
However, the Congress candidate later defected to the Trinamool Congress. TMC’s Nasiruddin Ahmed won from Kaliganj in 2011 but lost in 2016. He again regained the seat in 2021. After his demise the seat fell vacant.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has named Alifa Ahmed, daughter of late Nasiruddin Ahmed, as its candidate for the Kaligunj bypoll. Alifa, 38, is a B.Tech graduate and works at a prominent IT company.
In the 2011 Assembly election, Mamata Banerjee-led TMC formed a government with Congress as alliance partners. However, the alliance broke down within a year, and Congress has since maintained distance from TMC at both state and national levels.
In the 2016 Assembly election, the CPIM-led Left Front and Congress formed their first-ever official alliance. The election results saw Congress winning 44 seats, the Left Front securing 30 seats, BJP getting 3 seats, and the TMC sweeping 211 seats out of 294 seats of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
However, the alliance was short-lived and did not hold for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. In the Lok Sabha polls, Congress won 2 seats, BJP secured 18 seats, and TMC bagged 22 seats out of 42, while the Left Front failed to win any seat.
In the 2021 Assembly election, the Left Front, Congress, and Indian Secular Front (ISF) formed an alliance. However, the Left Front and Congress failed to win any seats, while ISF managed just one seat. TMC secured 213 seats, and BJP won 77 seats.
During the 2024 Lok Sabha election, despite TMC’s national alliance with Congress and Left parties in the INDIA bloc, there was no alliance between them in West Bengal. Congress, however, formed an alliance with the CPIM-led Left Front in the state. The results saw Congress win one seat, while other Left parties failed to secure any. This contrasted with the 2023 Panchayat election and the 2024 Lok Sabha election, where the Left Front-Congress alliance performed well.
After the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the alliance between the Congress and the Left Front broke and they fought bypoll separately.
"In the Lok Sabha election in 2024, our candidate for Krishnanagar Lok Sabha seat, S M Sadi secured the highest votes in Kaliganj, which is more than 18% of total votes. So, we are assuming we will do well in Kaliganj bypoll and definitely we will file a candidate there," a senior CPIM leader said.
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