Left Front announces first list of 25 candidates for LS polls in Bengal
The CPI(M)-led Left Front announced its first list of candidates for 25 seats in West Bengal for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Friday, leaving 17 constituencies for the Congress.
The list has four women and five Muslim candidates.
The Left Front has nominated former Kolkata mayor and CPI(M) leader Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya from the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency. He will be pitted against Trinamool Congress's (TMC) Mimi Chakraborty, a popular film actress.
The state Congress leadership, which was keen on contesting the Purulia and Barasat seats, said everyone should be flexible in an adjustment.
For the first time, the Left Front has opted for a seat-sharing deal with its once arch rival -- the Congress -- for the Lok Sabha polls in the state.
Earlier in 2016, against the wishes of its Left allies, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had entered into a seat-sharing deal with the Congress for the state Assembly polls. Struck in a hurried manner, the deal had failed to evoke mass .