Left Front and Congress Alliance Fail to Win Any Seats in the State

The results of the 2021 West Bengal General Assembly elections have ensured the victory of Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress. With 172 wins till now, the party has managed to defeat the other strong candidate, Bharatiya Janata Party, which secured 59 wins.

During the intense campaigning that took place in Bengal between March and April and the elections that took place in eight phases, it was clear that TMC and BJP were the two strong candidates. This reflected in the results as well, as the Left Front (including Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, All India Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Marxist Forward Bloc and Indian Secular Front) and it’s alliance with Indian National Congress, were left facing crushing defeat.

The Left-Congress alliance have secured two leads and no wins till now. This is a stark decline from the 2016 General Assembly Election, where the alliance (excluding the Indian Secular Front) won 74 seats.

In March, amid rising Covid-19 cases, the Left Front had held a massive road-show in Bengal. After the event, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Dr Sujan Chakravarty had said, “We received an overwhelming response from the electorates during the roadshow. We are confident that all these five candidates will bag victory in their constituencies,” as reported by Indian Express

The Left Front and its alliance suffering such a big defeat during the Bengal Assembly Elections is surprising, given its long history of power in the state. The Left Front ruled the state for thirty five years, or seven consecutive terms from 1977–2011. For five terms, Jyoti Basu was the Chief Minister and Buddhadev Bhattacharya in the last two terms.

From a long history of violence to a stagnant state of the economy, the Left Front was finally ousted from power by Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in 2011. With the 2021 victory, it will be her third term as the Chief Minister of West Bengal.

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