The party announced that it would field candidates in Basirhat, Barasat, Jadavpur, Mathurapur, Sreerampur, Uluberia, Murshidabad and Malda Dakshin Lok Sabha constituencies.
“Primarily, our party wanted to contest from 14 seats in West Bengal. However, after holding talks with the Left Front, we have come to an understanding and decided to contest eight Lok Sabha seats,” said ISF office secretary Naseeruddin Mir, who attended the meeting with the Left leaders.
Notably, the ISF did not include Diamond Harbour constituency in South 24 Parganas district – which is currently represented by TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee – in the list of its eight seats.
In February, ISF MLA Naushad Siddique had said that if his party wanted to contest from Diamond Harbour constituency, from where Abhishek Banerjee has been winning since 2014. “If ISF contests the election, then it will emerge as the winner,” Siddique had said.
However, after the CPI(M) named its candidates for Jadavpur and Sreerampur constituencies, Mir called the Left’s decision “unfortunate”.
“It is unfortunate that after holding talks with them, the Left Front announced candidates for Jadavpur and Sreerampur constituencies. This was completely unexpected. However, we still want to continue with the seat-sharing adjustment with the Left. Therefore, we will hold talks with our senior party leaders on this and take a final decision whether to contest these two seats or not. But at present, we will contest in eight seats,” said Mir.
When Left Front chairman Biman Bose was asked about ISF planning to contest from Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency, Bose said: “Bhangar is only one Assembly segment under Jadavpur parliamentary constituency. There are Tollygunge, Jadavpur, Baruipur Purba, Baruipur Paschim, Sonarpur Dakshin, and Sonarpur Uttar Assembly segments. What about these segments?” Bose said, referring to ISF winning from only Bhangar Assembly seat in the 2021 Assembly polls.
ISF, led by a Muslim cleric, first emerged in the 2021 Assembly elections in Bengal. Despite entering into seat-sharing adjustments with the Left and Congress, ISF won only one Assembly seat. The Left and Congress, however, failed to win a single seat in the 2021 Assembly polls.