The Communist Party of India (CPI) will contest 55 seats, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist) will put up candidates in 30 constituencies in the Bihar Assembly elections.
The CPI's national executive committee, which met here on Monday, endorsed the seat adjustment among the CPI, the CPI(M) and the CPI(ML). “After a long time, the Left parties have come together to fight a large number of seats… It is a positive development to change the political course in Bihar,” the party said in a statement after the meeting.
The CPI appealed to the people of Bihar to defeat the Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party combine and reject the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Lok Jan Shakti Party and the Congress, and instead elect the candidates of the Left parties.
The two-day meeting of the CPI (M) Polit Bureau, which concluded here on Tuesday, approved a list of 30 seats and candidates.
Pointing out that land reforms in Bihar were a crying need, the CPI said it was unfortunate that all other parties, except the Left, “ganged up” to stall them. “The parties are trying to widen caste-based politics for electoral gains. What Bihar needs is a secular democratic government.”
New Act needed
The CPI (M) Polit Bureau said forcible land acquisition for various projects in different States and the inadequate compensation offered to farmers — instances of which had come to the fore lately — highlighted the need for a new Land Acquisition Act, along with legislation for resettlement and rehabilitation.
It demanded that the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 be scrapped and the government introduce legislation in the coming session of Parliament for land acquisition and resettlement and rehabilitation of those affected.
