Following a momentous victory in the Lok Sabha polls, both the Trinamool Congress and the Congress might be looking to dealing another blow to the Left Front in the upcoming civic polls to be held on June 28. A large number of dummy candidates fielded from the opposition camp are, however, are likely to split the opposition vote, spelling out a chance for revival for the CPM.

After the last date for filing nominations got over, it was evident that a large number of “unofficial” candidates have been fielded by both the parties against each other. According to the state election commission, 1,334 candidates will be contesting for 432 seats in 16 civic bodies.

Of the 16 municipalities, four — Islampur and Kaliaganj in North Dinajpur, Mal in Jalpaiguri and Sainthia in Birbhum — were won by the Congress in 2004, while Egra municipality in East Midnapore is with the Trinamool.

The rest are under the Left Front’s control.

The polls are going to be yet another test for the Opposition on whether they can continue to be allies till the 2011 Assembly polls, with leaders of both parties agreeing that “there are unofficial candidates in some places”.

For the 35 seats in the Rajarhat-Gopalpur municipality, the Left Front and the Congress-TMC combine have put up 35 candidates each. There are, however, 43 more candidates who have filed nominations among which, according to local sources, 24 are from either the Congress or the TMC. Same trends are being observed in Madhyamgram, Dum Dum, South Dum Dum in North 24-Parganas, Mahestala and Rajpur-Sonarpur in South 24-Parganas, Gangarampur in South Dinajpur and Dankuni in Hooghly district.

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