Coochbehar: The Forward Bloc, aggrieved over the February five Dinhata police firing, has failed to reach consensus with the CPI-M over seat sharing in the panchayat election in Coochbehar district.

Despite an earlier agreement between the two sides to fight unitedly, the Forward Bloc and CPI-M filed their nominations separately on the last date of filing of nominations yesterday.

As the filing of nominations for the Zilla Parishad segment closed yesterday, the two parties were left to file their papers separately. While the CPI-M filed 34 nominations for the 29 Z P seats, the Forward Bloc submitted 15.

The RSP, an L F partner, also submitted three nominations for the Zilla Parishad although it was not supposed to under the seat-sharing agreement. The party filed nominations for Tufanganj-II, Dinhata-II and Haldibari seats.

For the 128 Gram Panchayats also, the CPI-M, FB, CPI and RSP filed separate nominations. So they did also in the Panchayat Samitis.

Both the parties had agreed to contest jointly in 27 Z P seats. While CPI-M was allotted 18 seats, the Forward Bloc nine seats. The remaining two were disputed.

The district CPI-M secretary, Chandi Pal, is still hopeful of a united fight in the rural polls.
Source : PTI