Darjeeling, Feb. 5: As the demand for a Nepali CPM candidate for the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat gathers strength, all eyes are on the party’s district secretariat meeting to be held in Siliguri tomorrow.

The meeting, which has been called to assess the annual report of the party in view of the coming election, is likely to feature extensive discussions on probable candidates.

Recently, a number of names including that of Anil Saha, sabhadhipati of the Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad, has been doing the rounds. District secretariat member K.B. Wattar, however, said: “These are only rumours and the the candidate has not been finalised. The CPM leaders from the hills are only ready to accept a Nepali candidate who belongs to one of the three hill subdivisions.”

Though the CPM has a strong presence in the Assembly constituencies of Siliguri-Phansidewa and Islampur-Chopra, the same cannot be said of the Darjeeling hills.

For the past three Lok Sabha elections, the CPM managed to get its candidates elected primarily because of the boycott call given by the GNLF in the hill areas.

However, with the Opposition drumming up the so-called “tacit understanding” which supposedly exists between the CPM and the GNLF, the latter will find it difficult to boycott the poll this time. This will make it important for the CPM to consolidate its vote bank in the hills, which will not be possible unless it fields a Nepali candidate from the area.

Though the names of candidates like veteran leader S.P. Lepcha are doing the rounds, Suraj Pathak, son of former MP Ananda Pathak, is being viewed as a good choice due to his growing stature as a youth leader.

“The candidate will be finalised by senior party leaders. The leaders from the hills will have no objection even if S.P. Lepcha is asked to fight the election again,” said Wattar.

An aged Lepcha may, however, decline to contest, leaving the field open for Suraj Pathak. Incidentally, both Lepcha and Pathak are known to have close ties. During the last Lok Sabha election, Pathak was chosen as the candidate but had to withdraw after a section of party leaders allegedly leaked anomalies in his school-leaving certificate to the media.

B.B. Thapa, a senior leader from Mirik and Uttam Sharma, a leader from Tindharia, are also being viewed as probable candidates.