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Parties and alliances in 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election

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The 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election for 292 constituencies of the 294 constituencies in West Bengal was held between 27 March to 29 April 2021 in eight phases.[1]

The incumbent All India Trinamool Congress government led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee won re-election by a large margin, despite opinion polls generally predicting a close race against the Bharatiya Janata Party, which became the Official Opposition but significantly underperformed expectations, winning 77 seats. The Sanjukta Morcha won just one seat, with the Indian National Congress and the leftist parties winning no seats.

These are the parties and alliances who contested 2021 West Bengal legislative assembly election:

  TMC and allies

[edit]
Map of the seat sharing arrangements of the All India Trinamool Congress for the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.

Both factions of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) expressed support to Trinamool Congress for the assembly election.[2] Trinamool Congress allotted three seats in the Darjiling to GJM, However the two factions of GJM, namely Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Bimal) and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (Tamang) declared to field their candidates in each of the three seats.[3] Shiv Sena also endorsed Trinamool for the election.[4] Trinamool Congress supported Independent candidate in Joypur after their candidate's nomination got cancelled.[5][6]

Party Symbol Leader Contesting Seats
All India Trinamool Congress AITC Mamata Banerjee 290
Gorkha Janmukti Morcha GJM Unrecognised Bimal Gurung

Binoy Tamang

3
Independent N/A 1

  Sanjukta Morcha

[edit]

On 28 January 2021 Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury announced that seat-sharing talks between the Congress and Left Front had concluded for 193 seats and that the remaining 101 seats would be decided at a later point.[7][8] Out of the 193 seats agreed upon by 28 January, 92 went to Congress and 101 to the Left Front.[7] These 193 seats included agreements over all the 77 seats the Congress and Left Front had won in the 2016 election.[7] Left Congress and ISF announced that they will fight together in an alliance named as 'Sanyukta Morcha' from Brigade Rally on 28 February 2021.[9] (It is worth mentioning here that Abbas Siddiqui had also sought an alliance with the TMC, before becoming part of the “Sanjukta Morcha”, with the Congress and Left parties.[10]) ISF initially claimed that they have secured 30 seats from the Left Front's quota.[11] After the final seat sharing agreement was concluded, it was announced that the Left Front will contest on 165 seats, Congress will contest on 92 seats and ISF will contest on 37 seats.[12][13]

Left Front chairman Biman Bose announced candidates for first and second-phase elections on 5 March alongside Congress and ISF leaders leaving seats for them in the list.[14] Indian National Congress revealed its first list of 13 candidates for the first two phases on 6 March.[15] Left Front announced its second list of candidates on 10 March, consisting of several new and young faces from AISF, AIYF, SFI and DYFI along with some well-known veteran faces including ex-ministers of Left Front govt and ex-MPs.[16] That day Biman Bose declared DYFI West Bengal state president Minakshi Mukherjee as the CPI(M) candidate for 'High-Profile' Nandigram Assembly constituency seat which was kept vacant in the first list published on 5 March.[17] Congress revealed its second list of 34 candidates on 14 March.[18] ISF released list of their first set of 20 candidates on the same day.[19] Sanyukta Morcha announced 15 more candidates on 17 March consisting of 9 from the Left, 2 from Congress and 4 from ISF camp.[20] Congress revealed its third list of 39 candidates on 20 March,[21] and two more on 22 March.

Map of the seat sharing arrangement between the parties of the Sanjukta Morcha for the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.
Party Symbol Leader(s) Bloc(s) Contesting Seats[22]
Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M)
Surjya Kanta Mishra[23] Left Front 138
All India Forward Bloc AIFB
Debabrata Biswas 21
Revolutionary Socialist Party RSP
Biswanath Chowdhury 11
Communist Party of India CPI
Swapan Banerjee 10
Marxist Forward Bloc MFB
Samar Hazra 1
Indian National Congress INC
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury - 92
Indian Secular Front[a] ISF[13]
Abbas Siddiqui - 32

  NDA

[edit]

Five hill-based parties pledged support to BJP ahead of the assembly election (Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists, Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League (ABGL), Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman Morcha and SUMETI Mukti Morcha.[2] Hindu Samhati, a right wing organisation in West Bengal, withdrew their support from the BJP initially[25] and later declared to contest elections on its own.[26] However, in the end they supported the BJP.[27] BJP allotted a seat of Amta constituency to the president of Hindu Samhati to contest on BJP's symbol.[28]

Map of the seat sharing arrangements of the Bharatiya Janata Party for the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.

BJP also allotted the Baghmundi constituency, bordering Jharkhand, to the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU).[29][30]

Party Symbol Leader Seats
Bharatiya Janata Party BJP Dilip Ghosh 293
All Jharkhand Students Union AJSU Ashutosh Mahto 1

Others

[edit]

Shiv Sena initially said that they would contest in around 100 seats,[31] but later on 4 March 2021 announced that they would not contest and will instead support Mamata Banerjee and TMC from outside.[32]

Party Symbol Leader(s) Contesting Seats[22]
Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) SUCI(C) Provash Ghosh 190
Janata Dal (United)[33] JD(U) Sanjay Verma 16[34]
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation[35] CPI(ML)L Dipankar Bhattacharya 12
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Red Star[36] CPI(ML) Red Star K N Ramchandran 3
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen[37][38] AIMIM Asaduddin Owaisi 6[39][40][41]
Bahujan Samaj Party[42] BSP Mayawati 162
National People's Party[43] NPP 3

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ Indian Secular Front is an unregistered political party and currently contesting the election on "Envelope" symbol and name of Bihar based political party Rashtriya Secular Majlis Party.[24][13]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "BJP preparing blueprint for 2021 West Bengal polls". Economic Times. 9 June 2019.
  2. ^ a b The Telegraph. Hill Assembly seats set for bipolar contest
  3. ^ "Mamata Banerjee sets aside 3 Darjeeling seats but GJM factions remain divided". Hindustan Times. 2021-03-06. Retrieved 2021-03-26.
  4. ^ "Shiv Sena won't contest West Bengal polls, stand in solidarity with 'Bengal Tigress' Mamata: Sanjay Raut". Times Now. Retrieved 2021-03-05.
  5. ^ "WB Election 2021: ভোটে অংশ নিতে পারবেন না জয়পুরের তৃণমূল প্রার্থী, ডিভিশন বেঞ্চে খারিজ সিঙ্গল বেঞ্চের নির্দেশ". ABP Ananda (in Bengali). 2021-03-12. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
  6. ^ "WB Election 2021: পুরুলিয়ায় জয়পুরে নির্দল প্রার্থীকে সমর্থন তৃণমূলের". ABP Ananda (in Bengali). 2021-03-16. Retrieved 2021-03-16.
  7. ^ a b c Outlook. Cong, LF finalise seat sharing in 193 seats in WB, decision on rest 101 later
  8. ^ News18. West Bengal Elections: Congress to Contest on 92 Seats, Left Parties Get 101 After Round 2 of Talks
  9. ^ "Million Plus People at Brigade Rally Heralds Left-Led Sanjukta Morcha". News Click. 2021-03-01.
  10. ^ "As Abbas Siddiqui Fights for a 'Secular Front', Mamata Still Retains a Large Muslim Following". The Wire.
  11. ^ "Abbas Siddiqui's ISF seals deal with Left in 30 seats". First Post. 2021-02-26.
  12. ^ "Left to fight 165 West Bengal seats, Congress 92, ISF 37". The Times of India. 5 March 2021. Retrieved 2021-03-12.
  13. ^ a b c "ISF to fight polls on borrowed symbol". Millennium Post. 18 March 2021. Retrieved 2021-03-29.
  14. ^ "Left Front Reveals Candidates for 1st and 2nd Phase". The Quint. 2021-03-05.
  15. ^ "Congress releases first list of 13 candidates for upcoming West Bengal assembly elections". Zee News. 2021-03-06.
  16. ^ "Left packs candidate list with fresh faces, veterans". The Times of India. 2021-03-11.
  17. ^ "CPI(M) declares Minakshi Mukherjee as its candidate from Nandigram". India Today. 2021-03-10.
  18. ^ "Congress releases list of 34 candidates". India TV. 2021-03-14.
  19. ^ "ISF releases names of 20 candidates for West Bengal elections". India Today. 2021-03-14.
  20. ^ "আরও ১৫ আসনে প্রার্থীদের নাম ঘোষণা সংযুক্ত মোর্চার". TV9 Bangla. 2021-03-17.
  21. ^ "Candidate List West Bengal Election 2021". TV9 Bangla. 2021-03-20.
  22. ^ a b "West Bengal General Legislative Election 2021". eci.gov.in. 21 June 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  23. ^ Chattopadhyay, Suhrid Sankar (12 February 2021). "Surjya Kanta Mishra: 'West Bengal Left bringing secular forces together to fight Trinamool and BJP'". Frontline. The Hindu. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
  24. ^ ঘোষ, প্রদীপ্তকান্তি (16 March 2021). "ভোটে লড়ছে না 'আইএসএফ', প্রার্থী দেবে 'অন্য দল'". TV9Bangla (in Bengali). Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  25. ^ Khanna, Rohit (29 October 2020). "Hindu Samhati severs BJP ties, to contest Bengal polls". The Times of India. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  26. ^ Chatterjee, Tanmay (2021-02-15). "Bengal polls: New contender in race, far-Right group Hindu Samhati forms party". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  27. ^ Saha, Dibyendu (2021-03-13). "রাজ্যে বিজেপির প্রতিদ্বন্দ্বীর সংখ্যা কমল, ২১-এর লড়াইয়ে অ্যাডভান্টেজ গেরুয়া শিবিরের". One India (in Bengali). Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  28. ^ Pande, Manisha (20 March 2021). "Strong base and Bengali Hindutva: In Howrah, far-right Hindu Samhati comes to BJP's rescue". Newslaundry. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
  29. ^ "BJP leaves one seat for ally Ajsu Party to contest in Bengal". Telegraph India. 8 March 2021. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  30. ^ "Bengal Elections 2021: Full List Of BJP Candidates". NDTV. Retrieved 2021-03-15.
  31. ^ "West Bengal elections: As Shiv Sena plans to contest 100 seats, here's how party fared in previous polls". Times Now. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  32. ^ "Shiv Sena Won't Contest Bengal Polls, to Support Mamata Banerjee". News18. 2021-03-04.
  33. ^ "Bihar ruling party JDU to contest in Assam and West Bengal polls, finalises on candidates". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 2021-03-01.
  34. ^ "Nitish Kumar likely to give Assam, West Bengal poll campaigns a miss". Hindustan Times. 2021-03-23. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  35. ^ "পশ্চিমবঙ্গে বিজেপি-র বিরুদ্ধে লড়াই করবে লিবারেশন, ঘোষণা হল ১২ আসনের তালিকা". Anandabazar. 2021-01-28.
  36. ^ "India: 2021 elections in five states – what do they reveal?". marxist.com. 2021-04-12.
  37. ^ "AIMIM Decides to Field 13 Candidates in West Bengal's Murshidabad". News18. 19 March 2021.
  38. ^ "AIMIM to be in poll fray for West Bengal, says Asaduddin Owaisi; to announce seats on March 27". Times Now. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  39. ^ लोईवाल, मनोज्ञा (7 April 2021). "WB Election 2021, AIMIM: असदुद्दीन ओवैसी की पार्टी ने बंगाल की इन सात सीटों पर उतारे अपने उम्मीदवार". www.abplive.com.
  40. ^ "AIMIM to fight from only 7 seats in West Bengal". The Times of India.
  41. ^ "Owaisi fields 7 candidates in Bengal, counts on Muslim-majority seats for state debut".
  42. ^ "BSP will contest Assembly polls in Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry alone, says Mayawati". Scroll.in. Retrieved 2021-04-24.
  43. ^ "No. of Contesting Candidates" (PDF). ceowestbengal.nic.in. Retrieved 2021-04-27.
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