Agartala, Nov 4: Ending speculation over a possible electoral understanding between the opposition Congress and the CPI(M)-led Left Front in the upcoming urban local body elections in Tripura, the Pradesh Congress on Wednesday announced that it would contest the Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) elections independently.
Senior Congress leaders said an alliance would have been welcome, but alleged that the CPI(M) had consistently adopted a bullying attitude and sought to play the role of a big brother. They said the latest instance was the CPI(M) led Left Front’s announcement of its candidates, followed by an approach for an alliance.
Today’s announcement came despite the recent joint protests by the two opposition parties under the INDIA bloc banner against the BJP and the Election Commission over alleged electoral irregularities and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which had raised expectations of a possible seat-sharing arrangement.
At a press conference in Agartala, senior Congress leader and MLA Sudip Roy Barman and Pradesh Congress president Ashish Kumar Saha said the party had been keen on an understanding with the Left but the proposed arrangement could not materialise because of the manner in which the CPI(M)-led front had approached the issue.
Roy Barman, also a former Minister, said that the Congress could not be expected to accept a unilateral decision by the Left Front to announce candidates first and subsequently approach it for an alliance in the name of preventing a division of anti-BJP votes.
“Had a proposal come in the proper manner, we would certainly have considered it. We wanted an alliance, but it could not happen. We regret that,” he said, adding that the Congress was a national party with an organisational presence across polling booths and could not be treated like smaller Left parties.
The Congress leader said the joint INDIA bloc protest on October 30 against alleged vote theft had generated expectations of a similar understanding for the civic polls. However, the political coordination at the national level and the subsequent failure to reach an electoral arrangement in Tripura had left the Congress to contest independently.
The Left Front had earlier publicly indicated on November 2 that it was pursuing a seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress after filing nominations in 26 AMC wards.
Announcing the party’s electoral strategy, Roy Barman said the Congress would field candidates in all 51 AMC wards without an alliance. He also announced that the party would avoid using plastic flex banners during the campaign, citing environmental concerns and poor air quality in Agartala.
Roy Barman also questioned the use of electronic voting machines, claiming that the Tripura Municipal Act provided for voting through ballot papers and that the relevant legal provisions had not been amended to permit EVMs.
The November 27 elections to 21 urban local bodies, including the AMC, will now see the Congress and Left Front entering the contest separately, marking a setback to efforts to consolidate opposition votes against the ruling BJP.
The breakdown of the proposed understanding removes the possibility of a united Congress-Left electoral challenge, at least in the AMC polls, and leaves the BJP facing two separate opposition formations.
