After poll debacle, CPI(M) reworks its strategy
Kolkata: The Bengal CPI(M) unit, after its debacle in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, has decided to formulate a fresh strategy to rework and strengthen its organisation across the state.
The defeat in the Parliamentary polls for the Left was more of a jolt to its young faces who apparently inspired hope in the electorates but could not win any seats. The CPI(M) had fielded many promising young faces who went among people during campaigns, promising to raise issues in Parliament that would help the Indian government to form pro-people policies. However, even as the vote share of the party increased, it failed to bag any of the 42 constituencies.
Moreover, adding woes to the party, several leaders and workers of CPI(M) joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the recent past. Besides, CPI(M) candidates Sujan Chakraborty, Sayan Bandopadhyay and Dipshita Dhar who contested the LS polls lost in their own wards. It may be mentioned that out of 23 candidates, CPI(M) had fielded in the LS polls in 2024, as many as 21 candidates lost their security deposits. Sources said in a recent meeting the party conducted autopsies of its poll results and came up with several possible reasons as to why it faltered this time. One of the reasons highlighted by the state secretary Md Salim was the seat-sharing agreement with Congress which took a considerable amount of time. This may have left a mark of uncertainty in the minds of voters. On the contrary, many of the party’s district leaders have offered to resign, claiming that they cannot evade their responsibility for the debacle.
CPI(M) sources said that such debates will continue within the party but reforms are also being planned which will include looking into possibilities of whether the party also needs a professional election strategist. A section of party members are against this idea and do not want to entertain the thought of spending lakhs of rupees after such agencies. One party insider recalled that the CPI(M)’s first state secretary Promode Dasgupta, fondly addressed by his comrades as PDG, was considered a maverick in understanding the pulse of elections and was largely responsible for the victory of the party in several elections.
He was said to have a unique skill by which he knew the party’s organisation like the back of his palm, sitting at Alimuddin Street headquarters.Following him, the former Left chief minister Jyoti Basu was credited with the same skill. “We are confident that our party still has such tall leaders who understand elections better than any so-called professionals,” said
the leader.Political analysts feel that though there is not much time ahead of the bypolls in four seats, the CPI(M)’s main target should be the 2026 state elections for which the preparations need to start now.
