Sanjukta Morcha alternatively Sanyukta Morcha (), was a political alliance formed ahead of the

2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election The 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election for 292 of the 294 constituencies in West Bengal was held between 27 March to 29 April 2021 in eight phases. Voting for the two remaining constituencies was delayed to 30 September 2021. The ...

as an alternative to the

Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (English: All India Grassroots Congress; AITC), colloquially the Trinamool Congress ( TMC) is an Indian political party which is predominantly active in West Bengal. The party is led by Mamata Banerjee, the cur ...

and the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

. It was led by

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...

and

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

and Indian Secular Front with other smaller parties of

Left Front (West Bengal) The Left Front ( bn, বামফ্রন্ট; ) is an alliance of left-wing political parties in the Indian state of West Bengal. It was formed in January 1977, the founding parties being the Communist Party of India (Marxist), All Indi ...

during the 2021 elections. After the election,

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (born 2 April 1956) is an Indian politician serving as the leader of the Indian National Congress in the 17th Lok Sabha and the Member of Parliament from Berhampore. He is also the current president of West Bengal Prades ...

, the head of Congress, declared the end of any alliance with Indian Secular Front Later on CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechuri said the morcha was over after the polls.

Background

Following the heavy defeats in the 2011 Assembly equations and the 2014 Indian national election, the party welcomed ideas of the alliance even with parties not conforming to the communist manifesto. The first signs came when in the

Siliguri Siliguri, ) is a major tier-II city in West Bengal. It forms twin cities, "Twin Cities" with the neighboring district capital of Jalpaiguri. The city spans areas of the Darjeeling district, Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts in the Indian sta ...

municipal election,

CPI(M) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the nati ...

made some local understanding with

INC Inc. or inc may refer to: * Incorporation (business), as a suffix indicating a corporation * ''Inc.'' (magazine), an American business magazine * Inc. No World, a Los Angeles-based band * Indian National Congress, a political party in India * I ...

resulting in CPI(M) leader Ashok Bhattacharya being appointed as the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

. This success got popularity as Siliguri Model. After the success of the model, in the long run, some Congress and CPI(M) leader advocated for a Left-Congress alliance. This gradually materialized into "Alliance" between INC and Left Front in all the seats except in

Murshidabad Murshidabad fa, مرشد آباد (, or ) is a historical city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi River, a distributary of the Ganges. It forms part of the Murshidabad district. During ...

district. After much dispute and secession of

SUCI(C) The Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) or SUCI(C), previously called the Socialist Unity Centre of India and "Socialist Unity Centre", is an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist communist party in India. The party was founded by Shibda ...

and CPI(ML) from Left Front, both Congress and Lefts formed a basis of what they called "seat sharing", strongly objecting to the use of the word-"alliance". Left Front consisting of

CPI A consumer price index (CPI) is a price index, the price of a weighted average market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. Changes in measured CPI track changes in prices over time. Overview A CPI is a statistic ...

, RSP and

All India Forward Bloc The All India Forward Bloc ( AIFB) is a left-wing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The party re-established as an independent political party a ...

along with

(Congress) (who were on an Electoral agreement with the Left Front) released their respective candidate list in several rounds after consultations and bargaining. In 2016 Secular Democratic Alliance or locally known as Mahajot was formed on the broad agreement that some political parties proposed before the

2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election A Legislative Assembly election was held in 2016 for the 294 seats (out of 295 seats) of the '' Vidhan Sabha'' (Vidhān Sabhā) in the state of West Bengal in India. The All India Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee won 211 seats, and th ...

for fighting against

government in

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fourt ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Subsequently, Mahajot succeeded to Samyukta Morcha in 2021.

2021 Legislative assembly election

Ahead of the

, Indian Secular Front joined the alliance with Left Front and

. The alliance was announced in a rally of

in the Brigade Parade Ground. The Left Parties will contest in 165 seats, Congress in 92 and ISF in 37 seats. Despite a spirited campaign, the Left Front and the Indian National Congress drew a blank in the election with a considerable decrease in their respective vote shares and the Indian Secular Front(contesting in the name and symbol of the Rashtriya Secular Majlis Party) wrested the Bhangar Assembly constituency from the All India Trinamool Congress.

References

Politics of West Bengal Political party alliances in India {{India-poli-stub