Kolkata, Feb 12 (IANS) All India Secular Front (AISF) has set a deadline for CPI(M)-led Left Front in West Bengal to spell out the front’s seat-sharing proposals for the Assembly elections this year against the backdrop of the Congress decision to go it alone in the polls.

AISF sources said that a message had already been sent to the Left Front, especially to the front leader CPI(M), to spell out the seat-sharing proposal on its part by Sunday, failing which the AISF will start announcing its candidates in phases for different Assembly constituencies of its choice.

To recall, in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls, Left Front, Congress, and AISF got united under the umbrella body of ‘Sanjukta Morcha’ (United Front). However, AISF broke out of the arrangement in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, while Congress and Left Front continued with their seat-sharing arrangements.

“This time, since Congress will not be a part of the arrangement, the Left Front is expected to finalise the seat-sharing proposals with us at the earliest, since our demand for seats to contest will be much lower than what Congress would have demanded in case they had continued to be part of ‘Sanjukta Morcha’. But probably, some differences in opinion among different allies within the Left Front are delaying their decisions on the seat-sharing formula. But we cannot wait for an indefinite period,” said an AISF source who refused to be named.

In fact, the differences between the different allies of the Left Front over the seat-sharing formula were also admitted by a central committee member of CPI(M).

He said that since Congress is out this time, the other Left Front allies like CPI, All India Forward Bloc, and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) are also demanding additional seats.

“But we are confident that finally there will be an amicable seat-sharing arrangement both within the Left Front as well as with AISF,” said the CPI(M) central committee member.

–IANS

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