West Bengal polls: Congress ditches Left to go it alone, to fight in all 294 seats

KOLKATA: Snapping its decade-old alliance ties with the Left Front, Congress on Thursday decided to "go it alone" in the 2026 Bengal assembly polls and fight in all 294 seats, setting the stage for a four-cornered contest.

Putting to rest speculation over a seat-sharing arrangement with the Left Front and its smaller allies, AICC general secretary and Congress's Bengal in-charge Ghulam Ahmad Mir said: "We decided to walk alone and it was a collective decision of the leadership. We will contest in all 294 seats. We entered into an alliance with the Left Front earlier but that did not boost the morale of party workers at the ground level."




Pradesh Congress functionaries, while maintaining that the party had gained considerable strength in around 60 seats, left the decision to Adhir Chowdhury on whether to contest.

The meeting took place at the official residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at 10, Rajaji Marg, New Delhi. During the session, the majority of netas advocated for Congress to contest the elections alone. Some state netas were also contacted over virtual meeting platforms. "Electors in Bengal and workers in the state have the aspiration of fighting alone this time," Mir said.

This meeting with the party high command over a possible seat-sharing was delayed twice before.

Kharge and Congress neta Rahul Gandhi met Bengal functionaries, including the party's Bengal president, Subhankar Sarkar, Adhir Chowdhury and Malda South MP Isha Khan Chowdhury.

Pradesh Congress was already divided into two camps over seat-sharing with the Left Front. While the Murshidabad unit, led by former PCC president Adhir, was in favour of an alliance, the Malda unit spoke against any probable seat-sharing formula.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Congress secured leads in 13 seats, mostly in Malda and Murshidabad. It progressed in terms of vote tally despite inconsistencies over the alliance.

At the meeting, Adhir highlighted the necessity of an alliance with the Left. He pointed out that by forming an alliance with the Left in 2016, Congress had become the main opposition party in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. Although both the Left Front and Congress were reduced to 0 seats in the polarised 2021 elections, Congress managed to win the Sagardighi by-election with support of the Left.

Pradesh Congress president Sarkar, who was in favour of assessing the party's strength alone, said;, "The youth were in favour of fighting alone this time. The high command kept their opinion in mind before coming to the decision."

The Congress high command, a source said, also took the equation between the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala into consideration.