CPI(M) looks to fielding more young candidates to tackle BJP,

The CPI(M) is planning to field more young candidates for the upcoming civic polls as it looks

to regain its lost vote share, in face of a tough challenge from the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP that has

emerged as the main opposition in the state. The Left party, which was decimated in last year's Lok

Sabha polls, is also in talks with the Congress, its ally in the state, to field apolitical candidates who have a certain

popularity and a clean image in their neighbourhoods. The decision to nominate more young candidates, aged

below 35 years, is a part of the party's internal decision of replacing the old guards with new blood at all levels in order

to prepare a 'fighting-fit' poll machinery ahead of the 2021 assembly elections, according to state CPI(M) sources.

Over a hundred civic bodies, including the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, is likely to go to polls in April,

being touted as the "semi-final" with its results providing a glimpse of the public mood in the state ahead of next year's

assembly elections. "More than half of our candidates will be fresh faces,

aged less than 35 years. Those who don't have a good track record as councillors will be dropped. We are also in talks

with the Congress as we will be fighting together in Bengal," said a state committee member of the party.

The party is going through an extraordinary situation and it calls for extraordinary measures, said a senior CPI(M)

leader. "Earlier, the TMC was the only threat. Now, we are

facing a dual challenge -- from the TMC and the BJP. We need to bring in more youth at the leadership level who can lead

mass movements against communalism and revive the organisation," said the leader.

The CPI(M)-led Left Front, which failed to win even a single seat in last Lok Sabha seat, had secured only 6.8 per

cent votes, a drop of about 17 per cent when compared to the previous parliamentary polls.