Updated: December 24, 2020 7:31:22 pm
Congress President Rahul Gandhi with CPM Secretary General Sitaram Yechury in Jantar Mantar on Thursday. (Express photo by Tashi Tobgyal)
In an attempt to reclaim its lost ground in West Bengal in the impending assembly elections in the state, Congress on Thursday officially announced their alliance with the left front. Both parties will face off against the ruling Trinamool Congress and an aggressive BJP, who made clear progress in Bengal during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. After the 2016 Assembly elections, leftist parties and Congress saw massive erosion in its support bases, and most of its bases moved en masse to the TMC. However, the left and Congress did not participate together in the Lok Sabha elections in Bengal. This is how it was in the previous elections:
In the 2016 Bengal assembly polls, the Left Front and Congress together had won 76 of 294 seats in West Bengal after garnering around 38 percent of the vote. The Left Front received 26 percent of the votes, while Congress obtained only 12 percent. Despite such a low share of votes, Congress won 44 seats, while the Left Front won only 32, with the CPI-M with 26 seats, RSP 3, CPI 1 and Forward Bloc 2. The Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee won 211 seats and 44.91 percent of the vote, being reelected with a reinforced majority. BJP won three seats, with a 10.16 percent vote share.
In the 2011 Assembly elections, TMC won 184 seats and obtained 38.93 percent of the votes. He had fought the polls in alliance with Congress and SUCI (C), which won 42 seats and 1 seat respectively, bringing the tally to 227. The left front was reduced to only 62 seats while the BJP was unable to open its account .
Meanwhile, in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Left Front failed to win a single seat, losing security deposits in 39 constituencies, with only 6.34 percent vote participation, while Congress won only two seats and 5.67 percent of vote participation, losing security deposits. in 38 electoral districts. On the other hand, the BJP won 18 of Lok Sabha’s 42 seats and 40.64 percent, just four behind TMC’s 22 seats with 43.69 percent of the vote, establishing itself as a formidable force in the political arena of Bengal.
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