The West Bengal Congress hopes to have a seat-sharing arrangement, as in earlier elections, with the Left Front in the civic polls, State Congress president Somendra Nath Mitra said on Sunday. The polls are expected in April.
Speaking to presspersons at Malda, Mr. Mitra said his party would not form an alliance but enter into a seat-sharing arrangement with the Left. Candidates would be nominated on the “basis of who is strong where” formula.
While in the 2016 Assembly polls the Left and the Congress entered into a seat-sharing pact, in the Lok Sabha elections, they fought separately, resulting in the dismal performance of both.
Reacting to Mr. Mitra's remarks, CPI(M) Legislature Party leader Sujan Chakraborty said in Kolkata, “we also called for a joint fight to defeat both the BJP and the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.”
Mr. Mitra said he was not against use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the civic polls.
