Left fields 16 in Bengal, ready for adjustment with Congress

The Left Front has announced candidates for 16 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal but said that it was open to seat adjustments with Congress. The 16 do not include constituencies in Malda and Murshidabad districts, strongholds of Congress. LF, which governed West Bengal from 1977 to 2011, drew a blank in the 2019 LS polls while Congress won two seats.

"Congress leaders are in New Delhi, and they will talk with AICC. We have decided only 16 seats. If Congress comes out with a practical proposition, we do not rule out an understanding. We have kept our doors open. Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had primary talks with Mohammed Salim, but it was not fruitful," Left Front chairman Biman Bose said.

Fourteen of the 16 candidates are new faces. The two familiar faces are CPI-M leader Sujan Chakraborty, fielded in Dumdum, and CPI's Biplab Bhatta in Medinipur. "In Bengal, we will fight against Trinamool and BJP and will stay with INDIA Bloc. Bengal's situation is not like Kerala, which has UDF and LDF," Bose said. Forward Bloc's Nitish Chandra Roy will be the LF candidate in Coochbehar.