Kolkata, March 23 – The All India Secular Front (AISF) announced the names of its candidates for 23 assembly constituencies for the two-phase West Bengal Assembly elections, which are scheduled to be held next month.
Although the AISF initially indicated that it would announce candidates for all 33 assembly constituencies it is contesting, it later declared the names of candidates for only 23 constituencies.
“This time, the party is contesting the elections in an alliance with the CPI(M)-led Left Front. We have requested 33 assembly constituencies. A consensus has been reached for 29 of these constituencies, while there are differences of opinion in four constituencies. We hope that these differences will be resolved soon, and hence, we have announced the names of candidates for 23 assembly constituencies,” said an AISF leader.
Nawsad Siddique, the sole AISF representative in West Bengal, has been re-nominated from Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district, where he was elected in 2021. His closest competitor from this minority-dominated constituency is Saukat Molla of the Trinamool Congress.
Although Molla is a two-time sitting MLA from the adjacent Canning (Purba) constituency, his party has fielded him from Bhangar this time. The BJP candidate is Jayanta Gayen. The Congress has yet to announce the name of its candidate in Bhangar.
At Canning (Purba), the AISF has fielded an influential former Trinamool Congress leader from the area and a former party legislator from Bhangar, Arabul Islam, who recently joined the AISF after leaving the ruling party.
The only obstacle to 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 where there are differences of opinion between the AISF and the Left Front are those where the Forward Bloc is adamant about fielding its own candidates.
In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, there was a three-way alliance between the Congress, the Left Front, and the AISF. While the 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, the Congress decided to contest independently by fielding its own candidates in all 294 assembly constituencies in West Bengal.
