AISF announces candidates for 23 assembly seats in West Bengal

Kolkata, March 23 (IANS) The All India Secular Front (AISF) on Monday announced the names of its candidates for 23 assembly constituencies for the two‑phase West Bengal Assembly elections scheduled to be held next month.

Although AISF initially had indicated that it would announce candidates for all the 33 assembly constituencies it is fighting, it later declared the names of the candidates for only 23 constituencies.

“This time the party is contesting the polls with a seat-sharing arrangement with the CPI(M)-led Left Front. We have asked for 33 assembly constituencies. Out of these, a consensus had been reached for 29 assembly constituencies, while there is a difference of opinion in four constituencies. We hope that the differences will be settled soon, and hence today we announced the names of candidates for 23 assembly constituencies,” said an AISF leader.

Nawsad Siddique, the lone AISF representative in West Bengal, had been re-nominated from Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district, where he got elected in 2021. His closest contestant from this minority-dominated constituency is Saukat Molla of Trinamool Congress.

Although Molla is a two-time sitting Trinamool Congress MLA from the adjacent Canning (Purba) constituency, this time his party has fielded him from Bhangar. The BJP candidate is Jayanta Gayen. Congress is yet to announce the name of its candidate in Bhangar

At Canning (Purba), AISF has fielded an influential former Trinamool Congress leader from the area and a former party legislator from Bhangar, Arabul Islam, who had recently joined AISF after quitting the ruling party.

The only hurdle towards a smooth AISF-Left Front alliance is the All India Forward Bloc, which has been opposing this alliance since the beginning. In fact, the four assembly constituencies over which there is a difference of opinion between AISF and Left Front are those where Forward Bloc is adamant about fielding their candidates.

In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls, there was a three-way alliance between Congress, Left Front, and AISF. While Left Front and Congress could not send a single MLA to the Assembly, Nawsad Siddique was elected as the sole AISF representative in the Assembly after being elected from Bhangar in the South 24 Parganas district.

This time, Congress decided to contest independently by fielding its own candidates in all 294 assembly constituencies in West Bengal.

--IANS

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