Before the forthcoming panchayat elections in West Bengal, the CPI(M) is setting up several booth-level committees in the rural areas of the state with a special focus on the minority-dominated pockets.

Sources said the party is focusing on setting up 14,000 booths in the rural belts of the state, including 8,000 in the minority-dominated areas.

A senior member of the party’s state committee said that the process of setting up these 14,000 booths is almost complete and they will be fully functional before the dates for the panchayat elections are announced.

“Besides the minority-dominated areas, the focus is also on the tribal-dominated pockets,” he said.

He added that traditionally, the party and the Left Front has a dedicated vote-bank among people belonging to the minority and tribal communities.

“However, an erosion in the vote-bank started since the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. It reached its peak during the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the 2021 Assembly elections. But now the erosion seems to have not only stopped, but is also showing signs of revival. In such a situation, the revival of the booth committees, which once acted as the backbone of the party’s rural organisational network, became extremely important,” he said.

Meanwhile, party sources said that the district committees are mentally preparing themselves that in both the panchayat polls this year as well as the Lok Sabha elctions next year, there will be an alliance between the Left Front and the Congress.

However, the CPI(M) state leadership is not willing to impose any specific seat-sharing formula for all the districts, and instead would like the respective district committees to work out district-specific formulas through mutual discussions with the Congress leadership.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed.)