“The Trinamool Congress won the Assembly elections with a huge mandate and Mamata Banerjee has been elected Chief Minister. As a part of electoral understanding with the Left, the Congress had fielded candidates at Bhawanipur in 2016 and 2021 Assembly polls. Shadab Khan as the candidate of Samyukt Morcha from Bhawanipur who secured 5,211 votes, 4.09 % of the total votes polled. The two parties had entered into electoral alliance in 2016 Assembly polls and contested 2019 Lok Sabha Polls and 2021 Assembly polls together. Like Mr Bhattacharya, Mr Deb also said the Left parties are not agreeable to the idea of not putting a candidate against Ms. Banerjee.

Source: The Hindu June 12, 2021 15:00 UTC