Despite fielding a number of young faces and running an energetic campaign, the Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), drew a blank in the Lok Sabha election in West Bengal.
The Left Front contested 33 Lok Sabha seats, and except in the constituency of Murshidabad, the Left parties finished third on most of the seats. CPI(M) State Secretary Md Salim secured about 5.18 lakh votes and finished second in Murshidabad.
The other CPI(M) candidate who secured significant votes was Sujan Chakraborty, who finished third at Dum Dum, securing about 2.29 lakh votes. The margin of difference between the Trinamool Congress’ (TMC) Saugata Roy and BJP’s Shilbhadra Datta was about 68,000.
The Left Front forged an electoral understanding with the Congress party. The only silver lining resulting from it was the win by the Congress candidate from Malda Dakshin, Isha Khan Chowdhury, who won by a margin of about 1.28 lakh votes.
State Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, a five-time MP, lost Baharampur to the TMC’s Yusuf Pathan by a margin of about 85,000 votes.
Commenting on Mr. Chowdhury’s loss, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that it was because of the “arrogance” of the Congress leader. “He was not a Congressman, but a BJP person. He lost to TMC,” Ms. Banerjee said.
The Chief Minister alleged that her party had lost four to five seats in West Bengal because of the State Congress leadership. Ms. Banerjee went on to allege that Congress leaders in West Bengal were paid by the BJP, and said that the party’s leadership in Delhi may not be aware of such developments.
Reacting to his party’s poor performance, CPI(M) State secretary Md. Salim said that it would need more analysis. Asked about the absence of the Indian Secular Front (ISF) in the Left-Congress alliance, Mr. Salim said that it was not an alliance he had wanted. The ISF had walked out of the electoral alliance with the Left and Congress.
Sources within the CPI(M) said that polarisation along religious lines was hurting the party’s electoral outcomes. “Both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tried to polarise voters on religious lines. Despite running a good campaign, the votes did not come in our favour,” a CPI(M) central committee member said.
The CPI(M) registered about 6% votes and the Congress about 5% votes in the Lok Sabha election in West Bengal. Since the 2016 Assembly election, when both the Left and the Congress came together to form an electoral understanding, this has been the lowest vote share secured by both the parties in the State.
None of the CPI(M)‘s youth leaders, including Srijan Bhattacharya from Jadavpur, Pratik Ur Rahaman from Diamond Harbour, Dipsita Dhar from Sreerampore, and Sayan Banerjee from Tamluk were able to make a mark.
