In an unprecedented move, the ruling Left Front dropped over half of its sitting MLAs, including nine ministers, from its list of candidates for the coming Assembly elections in West Bengal.
Announcing the list, state Left Front chairman Biman Bose said: “Renewal is our formula. New and younger candidates should be there and many candidates listed are below the age of 30 years.”
Observers, however, believe that the decision to field 149 new candidates out of 294 was prompted by the Left’s growing desperation to pre-empt the anti-incumbency factor. The move was also aimed at countering the Trinamul Congress’ clarion cry of pariborton (change).
Other highlights of the list is the presence of a large number of women and Muslim candidates. The Left Front has fielded 64 minority candidates, including 57 Muslims. The number of women candidates is 46 — an increase of 12 since the 2006 Assembly polls.
The desertion of the Muslim votebank was one of the principal factors behind the CPI(M)’s electoral debacle in the panchayat, Lok Sabha and civic elections in the past three years. “By fielding a large number of Muslim candidates, the party has tried to retrieve its lost ground,” a senior Left leader claimed.
The list of dropped ministers included tourism minister Manab Mukherjee, school education minister Partha De, minister of state for education Bankim Ghosh , library minister Tapan Roy and backward classes welfare minister Jogesh Barman. A senior CPI(M) leader explained that a majority of the legislators and ministers were axed because they had either proved “inefficient” or had “earned a bad name for the party”. Also missing from the list are notable figures such as longtime Speaker Hashim Abdul Halim, deputy speaker Bhaktipada Ghosh and Left Front chief whip Syed Masih. “They have decided against contesting due to their poor health,” Mr Bose said.
The CPI(M) was earlier in a dilemma over whether to drop a number of sitting MLAs and heavyweight ministers or to rely on the old warhorses. Sources revealed that after the prodding of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who had strongly opposed the renomination of errant party leaders, the party stalwarts took the bold decision to drop more than half the sitting MLAs.
Heavyweight Left Front candidates include chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who is in the fray from his old Jadavpur Assembly seat, commerce and industry minister Nirupam Sen, facing the election this time from Burdwan South constituency, finance minister Asim Dasgupta, again in the fray from Kharda, and health minister Surjya Kanta Mishra, who is fighting the Narayangarh Assembly seat.
Scoffing at the Left Front list, Trinamul Congress general secretary Partha Chatterjee said even the inclusion of so many new faces would not save the ruling CPI(M) from defeat. He claimed the Left had changed candidates in 149 seats “out of fear”, and that this was a “moral victory” for the Trinamul Congress.
However, the Trinamul Congress appears a little worried over the Left Front’s decision to field a large number of Muslim, women and SC/ST candidates.