The seat-sharing discussion between representatives of CPIM, Congress and Bengal’s lates political entrant Indian Secular Front (ISF) for the upcoming state assembly election continued till late on Wednesday night.

The parties have not yet been able to finalise the number of seats each one of them would be fighting. According to New Indian Express, Abbas Siddiqui’s ISF has demanded a minimum of 45 seats after starting negotiations from 72, asking Congress to compromise the most.

Reportedly, ISF’s Nousad Siddiqui, who was present at the meeting against CPIM’s Biman Bose and Mohammad Selim and Congress’ Pradip Bhattacharya and Abdul Mannan, has sought seats which were won by Congress in 2016.

Congress has expressed strong discontent on this, saying that it won’t be possible for them to compromise unless the Left leaves them with more seats. Till then, Mannan asserted, the CPIM-led Left Front would have to be accommodating.

ISF has expressed desire to field candidates in Murshidabad, Malda and in both the Dinajpur districts – all considered to be strong Congress backyards.

The Pirzada’s party has also set eyes on a few seats in South 24 Parganas, which were won by Congress in the last assembly polls.

According to Bengali news portal The Wall, the Left and Congress are willing to not share more than 25 seats with ISF. A fresh round of discuss is likely to take place on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the Left and Congress had declared earlier this week that the seat-sharing deal between them over. But they refrained from announcing the number of seats they would contesting from, keeping in mind the needs for ISF and other parties who are willing to be part of the alliance.

Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had said that alongside the Furfura Sharif cleric’s ISF, several other parties will be part of the Left Front-Congress alliance.

“In the upcoming 2021 assembly elections, we will fight as an alliance of the Left Front, Congress and the Indian Secular Front,” said Left Front chairman Biman Bose who was also present at the joint press conference.

“The election will not be a two-cornered contest as projected by the Trinamool Congress and the BJP.

It would be a three-cornered contest as the Left and the Congress are very much in the fight,” he said.