Kolkata: Adding a new dimension to the upcoming West Bengal assembly polls, Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party will be fielding candidates in all 294 assembly seats.
Addressing a press conference, West Bengal state president of the Lok Janshakti Party, Mira Chakraborty, said that the party has always tried to ensure the wellbeing of the "lower middle-class people" and if voted to power, this party will "uplift the status of the Dalits".
“Our late chief Ramvilas Paswan dreamed about the upliftment of Dalits across India. In West Bengal, unfortunately, this didn’t happen. Now, we will be fielding candidates in all the constituencies and if voted to power we will uplift the status of the Dalits,” mentioned Mira.
Notably, in the 2016 Assembly polls, the Lok Janshakti party had contested 63 out of 294 constituencies, out of which two were transgender candidates -- Bobby Halder (who contested against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from the Bhawanipore constituency) and Shankari Mandal, who contested from Jadavpur.
At a time when the fight is intensifying between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the principal opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a few political parties, especially those from other states, are trying to make a dent in the political canvas.
Incidentally, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi had formed an alliance with Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui to field candidates in the upcoming polls. Incidentally, Abbas had floated a new political party ‘Indian Secular Front’, with which even the Congress wants to form an alliance to get the minority votes.
According to political observers, parties from other states fielding candidates in poll-bound West Bengal will not get much result as they don’t understand the 'mood' of the state.
“This election is mainly between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP. Other parties can cut vote shares of these two parties, but those from other states cannot gain much in the upcoming polls,” mentioned the observers.
