The much-vaunted I.N.D.I.A bloc , already on shaky ground across much of India following the Lok Sabha election defeat, has crumbled in West Bengal. The alliance, formed to forge a united front against the BJP, has come unstuck as West Bengal gears up for the November 13 by-elections to six Assembly constituencies in the State. I.N.D.I.A partners, the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and the CPIM, have all named their own candidates for the bypolls without bothering to have even a single consultation to put up a joint fight against the BJP.
The bypolls were necessitated due to resignations of sitting MLAs of the six constituencies following their victory in this year’s Lok Sabha elections. The Trinamool Congress had won five of these seats in the 2021 Assembly polls, except for Madarihat, which was held by the BJP.
The Trinamool Congress was the first to announce its candidates, followed by the BJP on October 19. The Election Commission of India announced the bypolls on October 15.
The electoral contest is expected to be a litmus test for all major political parties following the doctors’ protests over the alleged rape and murder of a woman medic at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
The Trinamool Congress has fielded Sangita Roy from Sitai in Cooch Behar district, Jay Prakash Toppo from Madarihat in Alipurduar, Sanat Dey from Naihati, Sk Rabiul Islam from Haroa in North 24 Parganas, Falguni Singhababu from Taldangra in Bankura, and Sujoy Hazra from Medinipur in Paschim Medinipur district, the party said in a release.
The Congress on Tuesday announced its own candidates for the six Assembly seats.
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 Medinipur in West Medinipur, 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 CPIM-led Left Front, which had fought elections in alliance with the Congress in previous polls since 2021, announced candidates for five seats, including one for the CPI(ML).
The Left Front is likely to support the Indian Secular Front (ISF) candidate in the Haroa seat. The CPIM has blamed the Congress for the lack of a united fight in the Bengal Assembly bypolls.
CPI(M) Central Committee member Sujan Chakraborty said that the Congress did not express any interest in forming an alliance for the bypolls.
“The Congress did not approach us all these days to discuss seat sharing. We saw in media reports that they had decided to contest in all six. They finalised their candidates and sent the list to Delhi. Naturally, we had to do the same,” Chakraborty said.
“The State Congress leadership contacted us on Monday afternoon. By then we had already finalised our candidates. So, we informed the Congress and released our list on Monday evening,” Chakraborty added.
West Bengal Congress spokesperson Soumya Aich Roy, however, said: “Unlike Chakraborty, we are neither blaming ourselves nor the Left. Our former state president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury did talk to Left Front chairman Biman Bose. But being a national party, we cannot take a final call at the state level. We sent a list of candidates to the AICC and waited for its decision.”
Trinamool Congress sources said there was no question of any alliance in West Bengal, keeping in mind the well-known stance of party supremo Mamata Banerjee, who, before the Lok Sabha elections, had decided that her party would take on the Bharatiya Janata Party on its own in the State.
They also said that the newly appointed Pradesh Congress Committee chief Subhankar Sarkar, who had replaced veteran Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, lacked the stature to have any meaningful discussion with the Trinamool Congress, while it was “inconceivable” that the Mamata Banerjee-led party would have any truck with the CPIM in the State.
