Left parties to contest all 243 Bihar assembly seats

Left parties would contest on their own all 243 assembly seats in the coming Bihar assembly polls, a CPI-ML leader said on Friday.

"Left parties, including Communist Party of India-Marxist, CPI, and CPI (Marxist Leninist), All India Forward Block, Socialist Unity Centre of India and Revolutionary Socialist Party are set to contest the coming polls as one block without joining hands with the grand alliance," CPI (ML) leader Kunal said.

He said by the end of this month, the Left parties would finalise the arrangement formally. "We will also decide on the names of the candidates," he said.

CPI leader Rajendra Prasad Singh said the Left parties would contest the polls as one separate block. "People will get an opportunity other than the BJP-led NDA and the grand alliance headed by ruling Janata Dal-United," he said.

The grand alliance also includes the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.