Left parties likely to gain big in Bihar election, leading in 19 out of 29 seats

Left parties are likely to outperform themselves in the 2020 elections

As the counting of 243 assembly seats in Bihar is underway, the focus has shifted on the Left parties that are likely to outperform themselves in the 2020 elections, according to current trends.

After the first few rounds of counting of votes, the Election Commission (EC) trends indicate that the Left parties are leading in 19 of the 29 seats they contested in the Bihar elections. The CPI(M) and the CPI were leading in three seats each, while the CPI-ML (Liberation) was leading in 12 at 5:15 pm.

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The Left parties, which are fighting the polls in an alliance with the RJD and the Congress, have fielded candidates from Agiaon, Arrah, Arwal, Balrampur, Bibhutipur, Darauli, Daraundha, Dumraon, Ghosi, Karakat, Manjhi, Matihani, Paliganj, Tarari, Ziradei, Bachhwara, Bakhri, among other places.

In an alliance with the RJD, three Left parties were given 29 seats by Tejashwi Yadav, despite reluctance from the members of the parties. While the CPI(M) was given four seats, the CPI got six and the CPI-ML (Liberation) bagged 19.

In the 2015 elections, CPI (M-L) was the only Left party that won seats -- three of the 98 it contested. It won six seats in 2000, seven in the February 2005 Assembly polls, and five in the elections held in October 2005. It could not win any seat in the 2010 elections when the NDA won 206 of 243 seats.

In 2010, only the CPI managed to win a seat in Bihar, while in 2015, the CPI-ML (Liberation) grabbed three seats as the other two Left parties drew a blank.

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"The leads so far are on the expected lines and we hope to catch up in three more seats. This was a different kind of election. This was more a people's movement. We banked on young candidates, student leaders, candidates who were part of farmer struggles, working class people. That seems to have worked," Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation told PTI.

While the alliance with the Tejashwi Yadav-led Mahagathbandhan has helped the Left parties in vote conversion, the cadre base of the three parties has helped Mahagathbandhan to spread its reach.

(With PTI inputs)