Congress, TMC agree on seat sharing for bypolls

WBPCC chief Pranab Mukherjee today said the Congress and its ally Trinamool Congress had reached an understanding to fight the upcoming Assembly byelections in West Bengal together.

Of the total 10 seats going into the polls, the Trinamool Congress will contest seven seats while the Trinamool Congress three seats, Mukherjee told a press conference after an extended PCC executive committee meeting here.

“We are confident that the alliance, which reached the understanding in a natural way, will win all the 10 seats,” he said.

Mukherjee said that the PCC had shortlisted Congress candidates for the three seats and sent the list to the party's central leadership for approval.

Of the seven seats that the Trinamool Congress is contesting, it held five seats in the last election and was in second position in the two others.On the other hand, the Congress held two seats of Sujapur and Goalpokhar while it was in second position in Kalchini.

Asked if he would take action against those who sought CPI(M)'s help in forming the board in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, the PCC President said, “An incident has happened in Siliguri civic body board formation. It was aimed at giving responsibility to local people.”