Congress To Go Solo In Bengal? Most District Units Oppose Seat-Sharing For 2026 Assembly Polls. India News

Kolkata: A majority of the Congress’ district leaderships in West Bengal are against any seat-sharing arrangement with any party for the 2026 Assembly elections in the state, party insiders said on Wednesday.

Sources said the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) recently sought the opinion of district leaderships on the issue of alliance and seat-sharing, and most of them suggested that the party should contest the next Assembly polls on its own, irrespective of the outcome, instead of depending on allies to secure a few seats.

The district leaderships were asked specifically about possible seat-sharing with the CPI(M)-led Left Front, the Trinamool Congress, the All India Secular Front (AISF) and the Janata Unnayan Party floated by suspended Trinamool Congress legislator Humayun Kabir.

Party insiders said only leaders from two districts favored continuing the understanding with the CPI(M)-led Left Front, which began in the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections and continued till the Lok Sabha polls.

However, no district leader expressed support for any understanding with the Trinamool Congress for the upcoming Assembly elections, party sources said.

Incidentally, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee have already ruled out any arrangement with the Congress.

On the other hand, despite reservations from some other Left Front constituents, CPI(M) leadership in West Bengal has kept the option of a seat-sharing understanding with Congress open.

“The final decision on any seat-sharing arrangement will be taken by the party high command or the All India Congress Committee (AICC). The state leadership has only collected district-level feedback. The WBPCC will now update the AICC,” a WBPCC insider said.

Political observers said a smooth seat-sharing arrangement for the 2026 Assembly polls had appeared difficult from the start.

“The two main architects of the Left Front-Congress understanding since 2016 were former CPI(M) general secretary late Sitaram Yechury and former West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. After Yechury’s demise, there is no national leader in the CPI(M)’s central leadership who can convincingly push such an arrangement internally. In Congress too, after Chowdhury moved out of the key decision-making ambition, the equation has changed,” a city-based political observer said.