Mamata Banerjee, CPI(M) bridge decades-old divide over Election Commission concerns

Setting aside decades-long differences, former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee spoke to CPI(M) general secretary M.A. Baby on Friday, with both leaders converging on the question of the “declining credibility” of the Election Commission (EC).

The call is unprecedented and comes against the backdrop of a rivalry spanning nearly three decades. Ms. Banerjee quit the Congress to form the Trinamool Congress in 1997 because she believed the Congress’s State leadership was too soft on the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Front. In 2011, she managed to defeat the 34-year-old Left Front government. The CPI(M) remained the most strident critic of Ms. Banerjee’s 15-year reign, which ended with the 2026 Assembly elections.