LSP, CPI and CPM are in alliance for GHMC elections 2016

Today, LSP, CPI and CPM have announced a local-issue based alliance for GHMC elections that are slated to be held this month. The broader agenda is clean politics and the alliance is rightly called 'Alliance for Clean Politics' (ACP). It is still the early days and the modalities of seat-sharing will be announced soon.

My comments:

1. I welcome this alliance but only for specific local body elections such as GHMC elections.
2. Alliance in the name of clean politics is a good idea, because the Left parties and LSP have nothing else in common!
3. It is good that the discourse is on clean politics especially when GHMC is corruption-ridden. Other parties have no proper agenda except for inciting regional feelings.
4. This alliance between LSP and the Left parties can become a blue-print for other local body elections that will be held in other metropolitan areas in certain states of India where LSP has a presence.
5. Demographically this alliance makes sense -- educated voters typically favor LSP, while low-wage workers typically favor the Left parties. That said, we need to check how effective the vote-transfer between these parties will be.
6. This kind of alliance might not work for Assembly or General elections because the ideologies of LSP and the Left parties are very different. Also, the Left parties have a tendency to align with Congress during General elections whereas it is unlikely that LSP is going to align with the Congress.

At this stage, the developments are not earth-shattering. Let's observe how the situation evolves from here.