CPM to sound poll bugle at rally tomorrow

The CPI(M) is all set to kickstart its poll campaign for the upcoming Assembly election at the Brigade Parade Ground on Sunday. The party is holding its five-day plenum in the city which will start with an open session at the Brigade Parade Ground. CPI(M) satraps have decided to use the occasion as a launchpad for their poll campaign.

“The referee announces the start of a sporting event by blowing the whistle. Our party will sound the poll bugle from Brigade rally on Sunday,” CPI(M) central committee member and MP Mohammad Salim said on Friday.

CPI(M) and other Left Front constituents have worked hard to ensure a massive turnout at rally. Over 100 Left mass organisations under the banner of Bengal Platform of Mass Organisations (BPMO) took out padyatras called jathas across Bengal to mobilise support for the rally. Left Front chairman Biman Bose said that number of people who would assemble at the sprawling Brigade ground on December 27 will surpass one million.

Ensuring a massive turnout at a public rally is not a challenge for the CPI(M) and Left Front. Their main challenge lies elsewhere. The enormous attendance at a rally does not translate into votes otherwise Left Front would not have lost nearly every election since 2009 Lok Sabha poll. What is even more alarming is the persistent drop in its vote share. In 2011 Assembly elections when the Left Front was decimated by Trinamul Congress, it still bagged above 39 per cent votes. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, its vote share plummeted to 29 per cent. In the recent civic polls, there has been further erosion in its support base. “We are hoping to regain lost ground in 2016 Assembly election,” a CPI(M) state secretariat member said.

Several party leaders have in various meetings at Alimuddin Street emphasised the need for a major organisational shake-up. Around 450 delegates will attend the plenum.