Rift in Left Front-ISF alliance over defected TMC leader’s nomination

Kolkata: 

The alliance between the Left Front and the Indian Secular Front (ISF) has encountered a major hurdle over the nomination of defected Trinamool Congress leader Arabul Islam from the Canning Purba Assembly seat by the ISF. In some constituencies in West Bengal, both the Left Front and the ISF have fielded candidates though the two are in a seat-sharing arrangement. 

This has led to discontent among the other parties in the Left Front, including Forward Bloc, which has fielded its candidate from Madhyamgram even as the ISF announced its candidate for the constituency.  

In the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, the Left Front has announced 246 candidates and the ISF 29, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation has announced 10 candidates as part of a seat-sharing arrangement. 

West Bengal State secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Mohammad Salim, slammed the ISF for backing Mr. Islam as a candidate. “We came together in a seat-sharing arrangement with the ISF and the CPI(ML) Liberation to fight against the TMC and BJP. We cannot team up with one of the persons we want to fight against,” Mr. Salim said on Mr. Islam’s nomination by the ISF. 

The veteran Left Front leader said he did not approve of this arrangement. He added that Mr. Islam was known to have blood on his hands of many political workers, including ISF workers, and hence the ISF should not support him.  

The ISF and the Left Front have been in a seat-sharing arrangement since 2021. 

But weeks ahead of the Assembly elections, the rift between the two became even more prominent when ISF chairperson Nawsad Siddique said his party’s policy and candidate choice could not be “dictated” by any other party. “We cannot be an extension of any other party. We have our own policies,” Mr. Siddique said. 

Though Mr. Islam joined the fray on the ISF ticket, his candidature comes after a prolonged and very public feud with Mr. Siddique. 

Mr. Islam, a strongman in the TMC, left the ruling party two weeks ago and joined the ISF after being denied a ticket from the Bhangar constituency, where he has a stronghold. 

The TMC strongman had won the Bhangar seat on a TMC ticket in 2006, years before the party formed government in the State. However, he lost the seat in 2011 and was denied a ticket in 2016 and 2021 after he got involved in multiple controversies and developed a difficult relationship with the TMC. He was also suspended from the party on multiple occasions due to his involvement in several incidents of violence. 

Sitting MLA and two-time winner Saokat Molla has been shifted from his Canning East seat to Bhangar by the TMC.