LS polls: CPI(M) expects turnaround in Bengal after barren outcome in 2019

The CPI(M) is hoping for a turnaround in the Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal after a barren outcome in 2019, maintaining that the results will depend on the people being able to freely exercise their franchise.

Claiming that the people have seen through the "hollow" promises made by the Trinamool Congress and the BJP, CPI(M) central committee member and candidate from Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency Sujan Chakraborty said that the "red flag" is there when no one else is believed to be trustworthy.

"If people can exercise their franchise freely, then there will be a reflection of that in the results," he told PTI.

Elections in West Bengal, where poll-related violence has been in the focus for long, will be held in seven phases with the highest number of central security forces.

Several companies of central forces were sent to the state by the Election Commission as a confidence-building measure even before the polls were announced.

The CPI(M)-led Left Front, which ruled the state for 34 years till 2011, could not win any seat in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and also in the 2021 assembly elections.

Having started preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections quite early, the CPI(M) has been trying to make a mark in every major issue arising in West Bengal, from protests over atrocities on villagers in Sandeshkhali by ruling TMC leaders and their associates to livelihood and jobs for youths.

It is hopeful of winning some seats this time around after what it claimed to be a fair showing in the 2023 panchayat polls and the municipal elections held earlier in the state despite alleged "electoral malpractices" by the ruling TMC.

Criss-crossing the state over the last several months, Chakraborty asserted that those who had reposed their trust in the TMC some 12 years ago, were now a dissatisfied lot.

He claimed that despite fear of reprisal in various forms, even villagers in remote areas have started to fight back against "atrocities" brought down on them by people owing allegiance to the ruling party in the state.

"With their backs against the wall, people's fear has now turned into anger," Chakraborty, a former CPI(M) MP from Jadavpur, said.

The veteran CPI(M) leader said that a section of voters, who had turned to the BJP in the 2019 general elections and the 2021 assembly polls, were returning to the Left parties.

"They have realised that the TMC and BJP are the same - just two sides of a coin," he said.

With some TMC and BJP leaders switching sides, Chakraborty claimed that the voters have understood this through bitter experience.

While the BJP has put up former TMC leaders Arjun Singh and Tapas Roy as candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the ruling party in the state has fielded Krishna Kalyani and Mukutmani Adhikari, who were elected to the West Bengal assembly in saffron party ticket.

Maintaining that "distrust" for both the TMC and the BJP was fast gaining ground across Bengal, he said, "If people can cast their own votes, the results will not be a happy one for either of the two parties."

He said that the people of the state were concerned with issues like lack of jobs, price rise of essentials and law and order.