As the possibility of an opposition alliance fizzled out, a triangular battleline has been drawn with the ruling Left Front taking on a divided opposition comprising the Congress and the Trinamool led 'Gana Front', a 13-party conglomerate that includes the BJP.

Aspiring to retain power for the seventh consecutive term, the Left Front, ruling the state for 29 years, has put up candidates in 290 out of a total 294 constituencies leaving two each for the Rashtriya Janata Dal(RJD) and the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP).

While the Trinamool Congress has so far fielded 193 nominees allocating eight seats for the smaller partners of Gana Front, the BJP released a list of 24 candidates. Struggling to cope with factional feuds, the Congress has so far finalised candidature of 83.

The polling in the state will be held on April 17, 22, 27, May three and eight--in altogether five phases.

Though the election fever is yet to catch up the public mind, the run-up to the polls turned interesting with the Election Commission, pushing through a number of hard measures and a prolonged political drama over a futile bid for Congress-Trinamool-BJP grand alliance.

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