The Left Front announced Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Mili Oraon as its candidate from Alipurduar seat in north Bengal.

The announcement came after a meeting of the Left Front parties at the Communist Party of India (Marxist) office in Kolkata.

The first phase Lok Sabha polls is on April 19 and voting will be held in three constituencies – Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri.

With Sunday’s announcement, the Left Front has fielded candidates from all three seats going to polls in the first phase.

Addressing a press conference, CPI(M) state secretary Mohammed Salim said, “We are holding discussions with other parties and making all attempts to forge an united alliance. We are stitching together an alliance of different political forces that are opposed to BJP and TMC…

We have put in our efforts and there are positive signs. We are hopeful. It is a work in progress,” said Salim.

Sources in the Congress said the party high-command is likely to announce its candidates for West Bengal on Monday. “The party’s central leadership will announce the first batch of candidates for West Bengal on Monday. We are expecting that names of candidates for the second and third phase election will be announced tomorrow,” said a senior Congress leader.

The parties comprising the Left Front are CPI(M), CPI, RSP and All-India Forward Bloc (AIFB).

Last Thursday, the Left Front had announced its candidates in 16 Lok Sabha seats and kept the door open for future talks with the Congress for seat-sharing in West Bengal. On the same day, The Indian Secular Front said that it will field candidates from eight constituencies in West Bengal in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, while maintaining that it still wants to keep seat-sharing talks open with the Left Front for key seats.