CPM Lok Sabha poll review for Kerala raises red flag on BJP rise, admits ‘sufficient attention’ not paid

A month after the CPI(M)-led LDF suffered a severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala, the party’s central leadership has identified the “erosion” of a section of its vote base in favour of the BJP as one of the most serious issues facing it. The Left failed to pay “sufficient attention” to this, a review of the Lok Sabha results by the CPI(M)’s Central Committee says.

The report also blames “arrogant behaviour” of cadres from “top to bottom” as well as corruption at all levels, saying these were “alienating” the people from the organisation. The Central Committee, the highest decision-making body of the CPI(M), met over the last weekend to consider reports compiled by the party’s state units on the 18th Lok Sabha elections.

In 2021, the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) had created history by returning to power in Kerala under the leadership of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, bucking the trend of the state changing governments every five years. However, three years hence, the second successive drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections has added to the growing discontent over Vijayan’s leadership, which has been marked by allegations of authoritarianism and corruption, with the Congress seen as on the upswing and the BJP making inroads into the state.

Like 2019, the Left won one seat in Kerala in the Lok Sabha polls, Alathur (CPM), with the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) winning 18. The Left’s score was the same as the BJP’s, which picked up its first-ever Lok Sabha seat in Kerala. The CPI(M)’s pre-poll assessment, calculations and claims were proved completely wrong.

Pointing out the “wide gap” between the estimates and the actual results, the CPI(M) review calls it a “bigger problem”. “This shows