The Left parties have thrown down the gauntlet to the Bharatiya Janata Party in the coming panchayat elections.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) will contest the panchayat polls on a limited number of seats in these elections with full vigour and vitality.
CPI leader Girish said the CPI would contest the election strategically on seats where its organisational structure was strong and where its workers actively struggled for the public.
"We shun caste and religion politics. It is the election of panchayat representatives and is of utmost importance in view of development of the villages. We fight for poor, landless people, small and marginal farmers, Dalits, minorities and on women issue," the CPI leader said.
He said the party had given its tickets to hard working CPI workers who better understood the problems of the people of downtrodden class.
"In this election we have fielded candidates for the posts of zila panchayat, kshetra panchayat members and gram pradhans," he added.
The CPI leader said the party candidate had been alerted not to fall into the trap of glamorous campaigning in the election.
"The contestants have been asked to make door-to-door public contacts by visiting the houses on bicycles or motorcycles. The workers and the contestants have been asked to highlight the issues related to farmers as the party has extended support to the farmers' agitation," he said.
He said the CPI workers had been asked to organise small meetings of villagers during the campaign while adhering strictly to the Covid protocol.  
"Our contestants will fight against the division of votes on caste and religion lines, use of money and muscle power in the panchayat elections," he said.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) has so far finalised 25 candidates including eight women as well as 11 Scheduled Caste members in the first list for zila panchayat member poll in 21 districts mainly in east and central UP, and Bundelkhand. It will also contest on BDC, village pradhan and village panchayat member posts.
"The party's main plank will be defeating money and muscle power, fighting against corruption, developing the panchayats into a platform of struggles on people's issues, giving voice to downtrodden and poor people in the meetings of panchayats at its various levels. We emphasis transparency in development works undertaken by the panchayats and also bring it under people's monitoring system, insisting on finalising plans and spending most of the budget for the welfare of the poor and needy, fighting for bringing most of the developmental works under the umbrella of MNREGA scheme, struggling against forceful displacement and eviction from ancestral lands, and for the rights of SCs, STs and local population on forest and gram sabha lands and water sources, for repairing all faulty hand pumps, providing drinking water even in remote areas, and for garnering support from local farmers against the three black farm laws ,agitation against which is already going on in the country," party leader Arun Kumar said. He said the campaign of the party would focus on defeating BJP and its allies in the elections.