Agartala, Feb. 18: A fortnight-long gap between the February 14 Assembly polls and counting of ballots on February 28 has sparked feverish speculation over likely results with both the ruling Left Front and the Opposition Congress-INPT alliance predicting facile wins.

The CPM state committee held an emergency meeting yesterday and after a thorough discussion among party leaders CPM secretary Bijan Dhar concluded that the Left Front would return to power with a “comfortable majority”.

Dhar said there was no doubt about the return of the Front to power and urged its cadres not to respond to “provocative activities” of the Opposition.

“We have appealed to our workers and supporters to maintain maximum restraint because Madhyamik and Higher Secondary examinations will commence from March 1. So, students are preparing for the examinations,” he said.

On February 14, chief minister Manik Sarkar predicted that the Left Front would return to power with more seats and votes.

A meeting of all 48 Congress candidates convened by PCC president Sudip Roy Barman also discussed the situation in the state in the wake of February 14 Assembly polls.

While asking party candidates and leaders to be on guard against alleged CPM atrocities on Congress workers and supporters, Barman asked party leaders to face the challenge politically. He also sought the opinions of party candidates regarding their poll prospects.

“Most of the candidates expressed confidence that they will win the polls because of an anti-CPM wave in the state after programmes of Rahul Gandhi and P. Chidambaram. They also discussed the murder of Congress worker Kharendra Reang at Karbook by CPM cadres on Saturday,” said PCC member K.B. Dutta.