With a host of pundits saying the Left is going to lose seats in the current elections, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury recalled a conversation he had with Chief Election Commissioner Gopalaswami in 2006, when the elections to the West Bengal assembly were being held. The Election Commission wanted to bring in polling officers from outside the state and even wanted police/paramilitary forces from outside the state — to ensure the Left didn’t use unfair means to win the elections. Yechury recalls having told Gopalaswami he’d have to get voters from outside the state if he wanted to ensure the Left lost.