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The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] has turned its post-mortem of the Kerala Assembly poll defeat into an exercise in blunt self-criticism, attributing the Left Democratic Front's (LDF) rout to a campaign that revolved excessively around Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, lapses in candidate selection, corruption perceptions among leaders, and a large section of party cadre staying inactive during the election.
The findings were part of a review adopted at the party's Central Committee meeting held from July 11 to 13, which built on an earlier preliminary assessment from May and a detailed state-level report prepared by the Kerala secretariat after consultations that went down to local and area committees.
The numbers underlined the scale of the setback. The LDF's vote share fell from 44.44% in 2021 to 37.44% in 2026, while its seat tally crashed from 99 to just 35. The CPI(M)'s own vote share dropped to 21.77%, its lowest in four decades, with the party winning only 26 seats against 64 in the previous election. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), by contrast, saw its vote share climb from 38.88% to 46.55%, winning 102 seats. The BJP opened its account with three seats, up from zero in 2021.
The review also noted the impact of SIR on these elections but said the aspect needed to be studied further. "Our campaign rightly decided to highlight the achievements of the LDF government. However, in the process, we have not sufficiently campaigned among the people about the discriminatory attitude of the BJP-led Union government and its attack on federal rights. Most importantly, we failed to properly explain the limitations under which the LDF government functioned in the present State structure. Our campaign generated a hope that our government could resolve all the issues of the people, which led to certain illusions too," it said.
"Everything centred around one person"
Among the sharpest admissions was that the campaign was seen as centred on one person.
"A narrative was prevalent that the entire campaign revolved around one person. The reference was to the chief minister and Polit Bureau member, who undoubtedly led the government with efficiency. By personalising the campaign and centering it around Com. Pinarayi Vijayan, we unwittingly gave an opportunity to the UDF to conduct a targeted campaign against him. Consequently, we have lost the political initiative to expose the reactionary, ruling class bias of the Congress party and the UDF," it said.
The review said in the absence of a strong political campaign, the party could not effectively counter the systematic campaign conducted by the Congress that alleged that it had a secret deal with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
"Similarly, the Jamaat-e-Islami and Muslim League accused our party and the LDF of having a deal with the BJP and peddling disinformation about the SIR, etc. Some sections among the Christian minorities were also influenced and misled into joining the reactionary gang-up against the LDF. This had an adverse impact among minority voters and led to a section of them being weaned away from the LDF," the review said.
The review also flagged specific missteps that dented the party's secular credentials. It cited the reading of a message from the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister at the Global Ayyappa Sangamam by a minister who was also a state secretariat member, calling it "a major embarrassment" that suggested the party was soft on Hindutva forces.
It also faulted the state secretariat's response to anti-Muslim remarks by Vellappally Natesan as insufficiently strong, saying that the pre-election controversy over PM-SHRI, raised without adequate internal discussion, fed UDF propaganda about an "undercurrent" between the CPI(M) and the BJP.
“Just before the declaration of elections, CPI brought up the controversy related to PM-SHRI. This was helpful to the UDF's propaganda campaign that an undercurrent exists with the BJP. Lapses in deciding matters by conducting proper discussion on this issue also led to the formation of a problem of this nature. It is very important to take all our LDF partners into confidence on such matters," the report noted.
Candidate selection and rebel wins
The party admitted lapses in candidate selection, particularly in Kannur district, where allegations of nepotism and bias could not be countered. Decisions around changing Left legislator KK Shailaja's constituency and the choice of candidates in Taliparamba and Payyannur drew public criticism that the party could not adequately answer, according to the review.
“The lapses in candidate selection in Payyannur and Taliparamba were accepted self-critically in the Kannur District Committee review report. When approving the names of candidates recommended by the District Committee, the State Secretariat and the State Committee also committed lapses,” it said, quoting from a report.
Three sitting MLAs – from Taliparamba, Payyannur and Ambalapuzha – contested against official LDF candidates with UDF backing and won, defeating the party in what were considered strongholds. The review also noted the party fielded fewer women and Muslim candidates than before, with the state leadership, not just district committees, held responsible for the shortfall.
Corruption perception and cadre inaction
The review acknowledged that instances of "arrogance, corruption, nepotism and affluent lifestyle" among a section of leaders went unaddressed. It cited the Sabarimala gold theft case involving Pathanamthitta district committee member A Padmakumar, in which disciplinary action was delayed because he was in jail. Irregularities in cooperative banks are also mentioned as having damaged the party's image as a consistent opponent of corruption.
The review also noted that some of the party leaders were not careful in speaking before the public or while interacting with the media. "We often tend to forget that whatever we are saying in public is being recorded and circulated. Our actions and words, both spoken and written, can be used/misused/distorted to tarnish the image of the Party. Certain avoidable responses of leading comrades on a few occasions provided the opportunity for the anti-Left media and their political masters to carry out a negative campaign," the report said.
A further concern was what the party described as apathy among a large section of its own members, many of whom did not campaign actively; tasks such as house-to-house visits set by the state committee went unimplemented in several areas, the review said.
Highlighting a report adopted by the Kerala state committee, it said there was a feeling among the cadre and people against the high-handedness of the police and other sections of the bureaucracy. The Kerala report also flagged the inaccessibility of some ministers and an over-dependence on officials. "A large section of our party cadre felt that since everything revolves around the government machinery, there is no need for their active involvement and working for the resolution of people’s grievances," it said.
The review also covered the Left's performance in Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry.
In West Bengal, where the BJP won power with 206 seats against the TMC's 81, the CPI(M) said a section of its own cadre was not politically firm enough, with some viewing the TMC as a bigger threat than the BJP and privately welcoming its defeat.
In Tamil Nadu, where the DMK lost to Vijay's TVK, the party's vote share fell to 0.6%, with the review noting that some party members reportedly voted for TVK despite the CPI(M)'s alliance with the DMK. In Assam, the CPI(M) lost its lone seat as the BJP increased its majority, a result the party links partly to a 2023 delimitation exercise it called partisan. In Puducherry, an independent candidate backed by the party won from Mahe, the CPI(M)'s only gain among the five states and union territory that went to the polls.
The Kerala state committee has decided to hold an extended meeting in September to take up the political and organisational issues flagged in the review and initiate corrective measures.