Of the 23 seats in Bankura, Trinamool will field candidates on 17, while the Congress will contest on five seats. On the one remaining seat, a Trinamool-backed Independent candidate will contest.

Congress Bankura district president Brajabasi Biswas said: “We know there is no alliance at the state level, but here we have entered into an unofficial alliance. We ruled Bankura municipality from 2000 to 2005, but later lost power as an understanding could not be reached. This time we are not taking any chances.” Trinamool’s Bankura district president Arup Chakraborty added: “It is a people’s alliance. We are united against the CPM.”

In Sonamukhi municipality, Trinamool will field candidates on all 15 seats while the Congress has refrained from contesting on any seats here. In Bishnupur, Congress has withdrawn from five of the total 19 seats to meet the ‘alliance’ demands. In Hooghly, the two parties will share seats in Chinsurah, Bansbere and Arambag municipalities. Seat-sharing deals have also been struck in Bhatpara and Titagarh municipalities in North-24 Parganas.