Will there be at least one Communist party in India qualified to be recognised as a national party when the country's Communist movement enters its centenary year in 2025? The jury is still out on the question. The upcoming parliament election poses the biggest existential challenge to the Indian Left in its electoral history since independence. It will be crucial for the national party status of CPI(M), the only remaining party of the Indian Left that currently figures among India’s six national political parties. CPI(M)’s performance in this election will largely decide if it will remain a national party by the time of the next general elections in 2029.
CPI was the only Left party other than the CPI(M) with national party status until the Election Commission of India (ECI) cancelled it last year after failing to fulfil the criteria following the 2019 parliament elections. The All India Trinamool Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also lost their national status, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) newly made the grade.
CPI(M) may claim that the parliamentary path is only a temporary tactical step in its ideological and practical advances towards the people’s revolution, and hence, losing national status hardly matters. Moreover, only six of 63 registered Indian political parties have the status now; even strong opposition parties like the TMC and NCP don’t have it. Yet, losing such a clear benchmark of its electoral popularity is no small setback to the Left’s prestige, considering that the united CPI emerged as the second-largest party in independent India’s first-ever elections of 1951. It is also humiliating because next year marks the centenary of the CPI's formation in Kanpur in 1925. Adding insult to injury, the RSS, the Indian Left’s prime ideological adversary, which also coincidentally enters the centenary the same year, appears inching towards most of its original objectives after remaining in the political wilderness for a long period.
Can CPI(M) fulfil the three criteria required to retain its national party status after the current election?
According to the ECI, a political party can get recognition as a national party only if it fulfils any of the following three conditions. 1. The party should be recognised as a state party in four or more states. 2. It should secure a minimum of 6% votes in any four or more states in the previous election to the Lok Sabha or assembly and have at least four members of parliament from the previous poll. 3. It should secure at least 2% of total seats in the Lok Sabha (11) from no less than three states.
The CPI(M) has only three members in the current Lok Sabha and has a 1.75% vote share nationally from the 2019 elections, which saw the Indian Left's worst electoral performance. Congress is no better but may remain a national party because of its pan-India footprint.
However, even if it fails to fulfil the criteria, the CPI (M) may still retain its national party tag by holding on to its recognition as a state party in four states- Kerala, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Tripura-until the next election in 2029.
A party fulfilling any of the following criteria is eligible to be recognised as a state party.
The CPI, Muslim League, and Kerala Congress (M) are the parties that enjoy the tag of state parties in Kerala. The other three Kerala Congress factions have the status of Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPP).
Apart from proving its electoral popularity, being recognised as a national or state party has many advantages.
- A party with national status is entitled to exclusive allotment of its reserved symbol to candidates throughout India. (This triggered a rattled CPI(M) leader AK Balan to warn supporters that if it loses national status, the party may be forced to pick symbols like a rat trap, a civet cat or an octopus!)
- A party recognised as a State Party is entitled to exclusive allotment of its reserved symbol to the candidates it chooses in the State in which it is so recognised.
- Recognised parties need only one proposer to file the nomination.
- During general elections, they also get broadcast/telecast facilities over Akashvani/Doordarshan.
- Political parties are entitled to nominate “Star Campaigners” during General Elections. Recognised parties can have a maximum of 40 “Star campaigners”. The travel expenses of star campaigners are not to be accounted for in the election expense accounts of candidates.
The RUPPs are not entitled to an exclusive allotment of a reserved election symbol. They must choose from a list of ‘free symbols’ issued by the ECI. They are also not eligible for free copies of electoral rolls, free authorisation for electoral broadcast/telecast facilities over All India Radio/Doordarshan, or subsidised land for party offices. They can only nominate a maximum of 20 “Star Campaigners” compared to 40 “Star Campaigners” by Recognised Political Parties.
So, what can the CPI(M) expect from the upcoming elections to ensure its national party status? Let’s look at how it will cope with the three criteria. Can it retain its state party status in the four states, which is the clause that has helped it to remain a national party? Winning six per cent votes and two seats may not be difficult in Kerala even after the 2026 assembly elections. It may be the same in Tamil Nadu, provided it continues its alliance with the DMK. In Tripura, a red fort for a quarter century, CPI(M) won 11 seats and a vote share of 26.2%, though the alliance of BJP and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura (IPFT) returned to power in 2023. So a state party status in Tripura also may not be difficult even after the state's next election in 2028.
Ironically, Bengal, CPI(M)’s most formidable bastion for over thirty years, remains dicey. The 2021 assembly elections saw the CPI(M) drawing a blank and its vote share groping at 4.73% despite its alliance with the Congress. So, unless it makes the claimed impressive recovery in Bengal, CPI(M)’s state party status in four states could be a tough goal.
The second criterion for the national party status—securing a minimum of 6% votes from four states in the Lok Sabha or assembly elections and getting four members in Lok Sabha—looks unattainable for the CPI(M). The final criterion is winning a total of 11 seats from no fewer than three states. Though hard, it may not be completely unattainable if the INDIA alliance makes a decent show this time.
Even if it succeeds in salvaging its national status, the desperate battle it has to wage to realise it speaks volumes of the Indian Left's decline. Much praise was showered on the Indian Left when it remained a force even after the Soviet block’s collapse during the 1990s when most Communist parties folded up worldwide. In 2004, the Indian Left even registered its best-ever electoral performance, securing about 60 seats. It played the king-maker in bringing up the first United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and was instrumental in bringing about several progressive legislations during the period. But with the Modi-led BJP’s ascent, the story turned terribly dismal for both the Congress and the Left. This is despite the Modi government’s flagrant violation of various cardinal principles that formed the idea of a secular nation. This is despite India becoming a country with the highest levels of inequality, surpassing even the colonial era. This is despite India grovelling at the bottom in almost every global index of democracy and social progress.
Is it its ideology, practice, or the sheer bankruptcy of ideas that have led to the Indian Left's metastasis? Even as the movement approaches its centenary, there seems to be no introspection about its terminal decline in the last hundred years.
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An Existential Election for the Indian Left
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31.03.2024
Will there be at least one Communist party in India qualified to be recognised as a national party when the country's Communist movement enters its centenary year in 2025? The jury is still out on the question. The upcoming parliament election poses the biggest existential challenge to the Indian Left in its electoral history since independence. It will be crucial for the national party status of CPI(M), the only remaining party of the Indian Left that currently figures among India’s six national political parties. CPI(M)’s performance in this election will largely decide if it will remain a national party by the time of the next general elections in 2029.
CPI was the only Left party other than the CPI(M) with national party status until the Election Commission of India (ECI) cancelled it last year after failing to fulfil the criteria following the 2019 parliament elections. The All India Trinamool Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) also lost their national status, while the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) newly made the grade.
CPI(M) may claim that the parliamentary path is only a temporary tactical step in its ideological and practical advances towards the people’s revolution, and hence, losing national status hardly matters. Moreover, only six of 63 registered Indian political parties have the status now; even strong opposition parties like the TMC and NCP don’t have it. Yet, losing such a clear benchmark of its electoral popularity is no small setback to the Left’s prestige, considering that the united CPI emerged as the second-largest party in independent India’s first-ever elections of 1951. It is also humiliating because next year marks the centenary of the CPI's formation in Kanpur in 1925. Adding insult to injury, the RSS, the Indian Left’s prime ideological adversary, which also coincidentally enters the centenary the same year, appears inching towards most of its original objectives after remaining in the political wilderness for a long period.
Can CPI(M) fulfil the three criteria required to retain its national party status after the current........
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