THE VANISHING LEFT

When we review our work on building the independent strength of the party in the last four years, we cannot say we have made adequate political, ideological and organisational efforts for the same," read the PoliticalOrganisational Report introduced during the CPM Party Congress in Kannur in April 2022.

- PARVEZ SULTAN

The four-year reference was in the context of the party's dismal show in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Staring at an existential crisis, the two main Left parties - CPM and CPI - have been reduced to single digits in Parliament. The CPM could only secure three seats and its vote share dipped to 1.75 per cent in the last parliamentary polls.

Not just the CPM, the performance of all Left parties was at the lowest ebb in their electoral history since Independence.

The CPI won just two seats while its vote share plummeted to 0.58 per cent. The other Left Front constituent - the RSP bagged one seat with just 0.12 per cent vote share.

In 2019, the CPM won one seat (Alappuzha) in Kerala and two (Coimbatore and Madurai) in Tamil Nadu. The CPI won two seats Tiruppur and Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu.

The Left parties couldn't open their account in West Bengal.

Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal were considered traditional Left bastions. The Left Front governed West Bengal for 34 years from 1977 to 2011 and Tripura for 25 years from 1993 to 2018. The Left has also led governments in Kerala since 1957. Besides running governments in three states, the Left had also played a key role in the Third Front from

1996-98 and in the Congress-led UPA in 2004.

Fighting for its pride

The CPM has so far candidates for announced 44 Lok Sabha seats, including 17 in West Bengal. It is contesting one seat each in Andaman and Nicobar, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Punjab, Rajasthan, Telangana and Tripura. In Tamil Nadu, the party has got two seats -Madurai and Dindigul as part of the INDIA bloc alliance.