Congress, Trinamool to hold another round of W. Bengal seat sharing talks

Kolkata, Mar 16 (ANI): The Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) will hold another round of seat sharing talks for the forthcoming West Bengal Assembly polls.

The first round of talks between Congress leader and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee remained inconclusive here last night.

After the meeting, Mukherjee said both parties would sit again to resolve the stalemate.

Congress Working Committee member and in-charge of West Bengal Shakeel Ahmed and the party's screening committee in-charge for the state, Janardhana Poojary and Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy were present at the talks.

The Congress Party had expressed optimism about firming up the seat sharing pact with the TMC on Sunday.

The differences between the Congress and the TMC appeared to have diminished following reports on Monday that both parties had softened their respective stances over the sharing the 294-member West Bengal State Assembly.

While the Congress had backed down to a demand of about 75 seats from an earlier demand for 100 seats, the Trinamool had agreed to up its offer from 45 to 60 seats, media reports said.

The state will have elections in six phases. The first phase of voting will take place on April 18, second phase on April 23, third phase on April 27, fourth phase on May 3, fifth phase on May 7 and sixth phase on May 10.

The total number of assembly constituencies in West Bengal is 294, of which 68 are reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 16 for the Scheduled Tribes.

The Election Commission has said that polling will take place at 51,919 polling stations. (ANI)