New Delhi: The Left Front on Monday released its first list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections, fielding leaders like outgoing Rajya Sabha MP Vikas Ranjan Bhattacharya and CPI(M) central committee member Meenakshi Mukherjee.Of the 192 seats, CPI (M) will contest 142, Forward Bloc (21), RSP (13), CPI (14), RCPI (1) and MCP (1).Bhattacharya will contest from Jadavpur constituency in South Kolkata, while Mukherjee, the young face of the Left Front, will contest from Uttarpara in Hooghly district.Mukherjee was fielded from Nandigram in the 2021 elections and finished third behind BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee.Left Front has also fielded Sabina Yasmin from Kaliganj.Yasmin’s six-year-old daughter Tamanna was killed in an alleged homemade bomb blast at a victory rally during the counting of votes in the by-election in June last year, which was won by the TMC.Left Front president Biman Bose said candidates for the remaining seats would be finalized and announced within three to four days.Announcing the 192 candidates at a press conference here, Bose said, “This time the fight is against the neo-fascist forces in the country, the autocratic activities in our state and the hardships caused to the people due to these.”“We will also fight to revive leftist politics and strengthen leftist forces in the state,” he said.Saying that women candidates have been fielded in 28 constituencies, Bose said, more women will be nominated for the remaining seats.CPI(ML)-Liberation and Indian Secular Front (ISF) will field candidates as allies, Bose said, adding that apart from these, some independents and important names will also be included in the Left Front’s list.The ISF, which contested the 2021 assembly elections in a seat-sharing arrangement with the Left Front, won one seat – Bhangar in South 24 Parganas. PTIThe upcoming election is being seen as a battle of survival for the CPI(M)-led front in West Bengal, which ruled the state uninterrupted for 34 years till 2011 and failed to win a single seat in the 2021 assembly elections.Assembly elections will be held in the state on 23 and 29 April and counting of votes will take place on 4 May.