Left Front chairperson Biman Bose on Friday announced the names of Left Front candidates for the first two phases of Assembly elections but did not name anyone for the Nandigram seat which he flagged as a “heavyweight centre”.

For the 60 seats which will go to the polls in the first two phases, 39 candidates were declared by the Left Front. The Congress and the Indian Secular Front are allotted 12 and five seats, respectively.

The Nandigram seat has not been allotted to any party and discussions were still on, a Left leader said on Friday.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee will contest from Nandigram where her ex-confidante Suvendu Adhikari might be the BJP candidate.

“We are not declaring the names of candidates in Nandigram, Pingla and a few other seats as negotiations are yet to be completed. Nandigram has become a heavyweight centre, so we are keeping it vacant for now,” Bose told a news conference at the CPM state headquarters at Alimuddin Street here. Nandigram will go to the polls in the second phase on April 1.

Although the Left parties named their candidates, many of whom are youths, for the first two phases of the polls, the other two allies of the Sanjukta Morcha — Congress and the ISF — did not name their respective nominees on Friday. The last date for filing nomination for the first phase of the poll is March 9, while for the second phase, it is March 12.

In a departure from the past and carrying forward the reflection of the large turnout of youths at the February 28 Brigade rally, the Left list is full of young faces like Sheikh Saddam Ali, 28, who is the CPM candidate for the Kharagpur seat. However, veterans like Susanta Ghosh, Pulin Behari Baskey and former minister Debolina Hembram have also made it to the list.

Reacting to the Trinamul’s list, Bose said: “Trinamul and the BJP have an understanding in drawing up their list of candidates. So, we are not concerned about what Trinamul has announced.”

“We also fielded several young faces,” Bose added when told that the Trinamul list had several young faces.

Veteran Congress leader Pradip Bhattacharya, who was present at the CPM headquarters on Friday, said: “Names of the candidates of our party are announced at the all-India level. So, we cannot announce the names of our candidates here. The drama that has been started by the BJP and Trinamul will be stopped by our force.”

“We are united in our goal and the ISF has joined us.”

ISF president Simul Soren, who represented the party at the press meet held to announce the list of candidates of the Left, said they would announce their list within a day or two.