Congress Finalizes All 294 Bengal Candidates, Ends Alliance With Left

Earlier, on March 29, the AICC had announced candidates for 284 of the total 294 Assembly constituencies in the state.

With the latest list, the party has now named candidates for all 294 constituencies. The 10 constituencies announced on Wednesday are Alipurduars, Islampur, Gazole, Farakka, Sagardighi, Beldanga, Baduria, Ashoknagar, Sreerampore, and Pataspur.

No high-profile political names feature in the latest list of candidates.

The Congress has decided to contest independently in all 294 Assembly constituencies, severing its earlier electoral alliance with the CPI(M)-led Left Front in the state.

Congress and the Left Front had contested together under a seat-sharing arrangement since the 2016 Assembly elections, which continued till the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. In the 2021 Assembly elections, neither the Congress nor the Left Front won any seats in the state.

The two-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal are scheduled for April 23 and April 29. Polling will be held in 152 constituencies in the first phase and 142 constituencies in the second phase.

The electoral contest in the state is expected to be largely four-cornered, involving the Trinamool Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the CPI(M)-led Left Front, and the Congress.

In some minority-dominated constituencies, the alliance between the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) and Humayun Kabir's Aam Aadmi Unnayan Party (AAUP) may also influence the contest.

Earlier on Wednesday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the Congress of failing to respond to her appeal for support to the Trinamool Congress' movement against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, both in the state and across the country.

She also alleged that the Congress did not take the issue of SIR seriously or extend support to voters during the revision process.

"I asked them several times to jointly move against the SIR and jointly approach the Election Commission of India (ECI). But they did not accept our appeal. They did not care about the people when the revision exercise was being conducted. It was only the booth-level agents of the Trinamool Congress who stood by the voters during the revision exercise," the Chief Minister said at an election rally in Nabagram in Murshidabad district, where the Congress continues to have a strong support base.

Speaking at the rally, the Chief Minister also accused the Election Commission of India of specifically targeting her constituency of Bhabanipur in south Kolkata. "The names of an abnormal number of voters have been deleted from the voters' list in Bhabanipur. But still I will fight and ultimately I will win," she said.

- IANS