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Secular Democratic Alliance
Secular Democratic Alliance[1][2] or Sanjukta Morcha is a political alliance formed ahead of the 2024 Indian general election in West Bengal by the Left Front and the Indian National Congress in opposition to the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal.[3][4][5] BackgroundFollowing the heavy defeats in the 2011 Legislative Assembly election and the 2014 general election, the CPI(M) welcomed ideas of the alliance even with non-communist parties. The first signs came when in the Siliguri municipal election, CPI(M) made some local understanding with INC resulting in CPI(M) leader Ashok Bhattacharya being appointed as the mayor. This success got popularity as "Siliguri Model".[6] After the success of the model, in the long run, some Congress and CPI(M) leader advocated for a Left-Congress alliance.[7] This gradually materialized into "alliance" between INC and Left Front. The precedence of the Left Front providing outside support to the UPA-I government in 2004-2008 was cited in support. Given the political history of West Bengal, the materialisation of an alliance between the Congress & the CPI(M), 2 parties that have been bitter rivals of each other since the 1970s & have a history of unleashing political violence against each other's cadres, took the political circles of the state by surprise. After much dispute and secession of 2 far-left groups : SUCI(C) and CPI(ML)L, from the Left Front, both Congress and Communists formed an understanding basis of what they called "seat-sharing", strongly objecting to the use of the word "alliance". In 2016, Mahajot[8][9][10] was formed on the broad agreement that some political parties proposed before the 2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election for fighting against the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal and the Bharatiya Janata Party on national level. Left Front consisting of CPI(M), CPI, RSP, AIFB and DSP along with INC released their respective candidate list in several rounds after consultations and bargaining.[11][12] However, the alliance failed to gain the majority seats in the assembly elections.[13][14] Afterwards, ahead of 2019 Indian general election, the alliance between the Congress and the Left Front is off the cards as both camps could not agree on a seat-sharing formula for Lok Sabha elections, especially in the Raiganj & Murshidabad seats, where the incumbent MP was from CPI(M) but the MLAs of the constituent legislative assembly seats were mostly from the Congress.[15][16] Subsequently, Mahajot succeeded to Sanjukta Morcha[17] in 2021 with the joining of ISF in the alliance. Despite a spirited campaign, both the Left Front and the Indian National Congress drew a blank in the election with a considerable decrease in their respective vote shares. That was the first time when, the West Bengal Legislative Assembly was devoid of any MLA from Left Front or Congress.[18] Afterwards, ahead of 2024 Indian general election, ISF decided to contest alone in the Lok Sabha polls due to some differences in seat sharing and marks the end of alliance with Left and Congress.[19]Thereafter, Sanjukta Morcha succeeded to LF-INC Alliance[20] or Secular Democratic Alliance. On 29 March, 2024 hill-based Hamro Party president Ajoy Edwards joined hands with the alliance to take on both the BJP and the TMC in Darjeeling Lok Sabha polls.[21] The alliance won only 1 seat (Maldaha Dakshin by INC candidate Isha Khan Choudhury) out of the 42 it contested. MembersElectoral historyResults of Indian general elections in West Bengal
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