POBNEWS24, Dhaka, May 23, 2024 : Left candidates face obstacles in campaigning. From Murshidabad to Calcutta they are being attacked. Sometimes there are allegations of tearing down their flags, sometimes of throwing bricks at candidates’ cars. Sometimes there are allegations of placing fake agents in their center booths on polling days. The arrow of this complaint is towards the ruling party. But the left is going to be a factor in the West Bengal vote again?
Five phases of Lok Sabha elections have already taken place. Two more rounds of voting are left. There are indications that the elections on May 25 and June 1 will be heated. Voting in Jadavpur, Dumdum Lok Sabha constituencies in the last phase. Before that, the tension between CPM and Trinamool is increasing.
Tension in Jadavpur
Jadavpur Left candidate Srijan Bhattacharya’s campaign vehicle was allegedly pelted with bricks on Tuesday. ‘Go back’ slogan is given to the candidate. CPM claims that on Monday night, festoons, flex banners etc. of left candidates were torn in ward number 100. Allegations are aimed at the ruling party. In protest, CPM has called a meeting at Naktala on Tuesday.
The excitement has been rising since last week. A CPM worker was allegedly beaten up in Patuli on Friday. In protest, the leftists surrounded Patuli police station under the leadership of Srijan Bhattacharya. Trinamool workers and supporters appeared there. The ruling party’s complaint is against the creators. As a result, the tension in the police station peaked. Both sides of the war chant slogans against each other.
Another center picture
Elections to Murshidabad Lok Sabha constituency have already taken place. Where the candidate was CPM State Secretary Mohammad Salim. Besides campaigning, he was very active on election day. He even identified the fake agents of the ruling party and handed them over to the police.
Elections were held in Srirampur Lok Sabha constituency yesterday. The CPM candidate from there, Dipsita Dhar, has been touring various assembly constituencies throughout the day. Trinamool organization is very strong in Hooghly like many other districts of South Bengal. Not only in the campaign, but also on the polling day, the young left leader tried to compete with Trinamool’s three-time winner Sangsad Kalyan Banerjee.
The same can be said about Dum Dum’s Sujan Chakraborty and Diamond Harbour’s Pratikur Rahman. Former MP Sujan could not beat his rival Trinamool’s outgoing Sangsad Saugata Roy in the campaign, but is definitely ahead of BJP candidate Shilabhadra Dutt. There are speculations that Sujan, a well-known face of television, can change the number of votes this time.
The opposition in the Diamond Harbor seat has announced a late candidate. ISF MLA Naushad Siddiqui had promised to fight here. He challenged the outgoing MP, Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool’s second most important leader. Naushad is not in the fight. CPM has given that responsibility to Pratik. The young CPM leader is campaigning as much as possible, taking on the strong Trinamool organization.
The strength of the coalition
In this election, the Congress has agreed with the CPM. The two parties are fighting not only with understanding but also with an alliance. Their leaders say that there has been no such coordination between the two parties in any previous election. Especially, the state Congress president Adhir Chowdhury is shoulder to shoulder with Selim in the fight field.
In the last Lok Sabha elections, the Congress won two seats, but the left’s account was empty. The sudden rise of the BJP caught the eye. Left votes collapsed. In last year’s panchayat polls, the Left, Congress and ISF had come together to beat the BJP in total votes. But this time the election to form the government of Delhi. ISF withdrew from the agreement. There are questions about how well the Left can do.
But from Murshidabad to Jadavpur, Srirampur to Diamond Harbour, there is no doubt that the CPM has now emerged as a visible force in various parts of the state. CPM’s young leader Meenakshi Mukhopadhyay said, “In any election, the Left is campaigning. Because the media does not promote people’s issues, if you watch TV, it seems that the Left is not there. If you stand on the street, the Left is always there in the polls. It is there in the neighborhood, it is there in the booth. There is no BJP, Trinamool. ”
Left probability
Polling is being held in 42 centers in seven phases in West Bengal. Incidents of violence are less this year than in other years. Leftists are attracting attention in various fields, from campaigning to booth management or courting the Election Commission. In the fifth phase of voting yesterday, the CPM made the most complaints to the Election Commission. The number of complaints is 245.
All in all, political analyst Maidul Islam sees a lot of potential for the left. He told DW, “Left Congress alliance will fight hard in 20 seats this time, will do well. National party gets more votes in Lok Sabha elections, Congress and CPM are two national parties with understanding. In 2016 assembly elections, this alliance was able to challenge Trinamool. Then As the Left Congress did not form an alliance, a section of their supporters shifted to the BJP.”
Moidul believes that the Left has been energized by the emergence of a new generation of leadership from the activities of the Red Volunteers during the Corona epidemic. According to him, “This time the alliance’s vote share will undoubtedly increase. The alliance may even win seats like Maldah South, Baharampur, Murshidabad. In many other seats they may come second behind the BJP.”
However, seeing the tide of publicity, veteran journalist Subhashis Maitra is not ready to make any specific comments about the results. He told UNI, “In the last Lok Sabha polls, the Left and the Congress together got about 12 percent votes. Overall, the vote will increase slightly this time. In some seats, it will increase quite a bit. With the new leadership at the forefront of the Left, people’s resentment has gone down a lot. People like bright, young candidates. Fight at the polls. It may benefit the alliance somewhat.”
