CPI finalizes candidates for 19 constituencies will contest on 55 LS seats

The CPI has decided to contest 55 seats in 24 states in the coming Lok Sabha elections, party General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said Thursday. "The CPI has decided to contest 55 seats in 24 states in the parliament elections. Selection of candidates is over in 19 constituencies. In the remaining constituencies, (electoral) agreements have not been reached," he told reporters here. The party would soon announce the candidates, he said. Reddy urged the electorate to vote for Left parties and help increase their strength in Parliament.

Left parties have effectively raised voice against corruption, black money and misuse of power by the Centre in the Parliament and in favour of the poor, middle classes and others, he said. Noting that Left parties were entering into an electoral understanding with parties having secular and democratic policies, Reddy said in Odisha, the CPI inked a poll pact with the Congress and decided to contest three assembly seats and one Lok Sabha segment.

While talks have not been concluded with the Congress in West Bengal, they are underway in Maharashtra, he said. Pitching for holding assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, he said, though the situation was tense there, it was necessary that normalcy is restored by bringing a democratic government.

The CPI also demanded that VVPATs be counted in Lok Sabha constituencies, where the victory margin was around 5,000 votes, he said. Referring to Election Commission's advisory to political parties not to use images of Defence personnel during campaigns, the senior CPI leader said advisory is not enough. "They should ban it," he said. BJP was trying to cash in on the sacrifices of the martyrs, he alleged.

Alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was spreading misinformation that opposition sought proof for the air strike carried out in Pakistan, Reddy said nobody questioned it. "Even Shiv Sena which is an NDA partner also demanded transparency. They also wanted to know exactly how many people died. Narendra Modi is lying that opposition parties are against the Army and in favour of Pakistan," he said.

CPI Telangana state secretary Chada Venkat Reddy slammed the ruling TRS for allegedly encouraging defection of MLAs from opposition parties. He was referring to some Congress MLAs announcing their decision to join the TRS, recently.

(With inputs from agencies.)