Stalling a seemingly imminent collapse, the Left parties have won or are leading in as many as nine seats across the country in the Lok Sabha 2024 elections after their performance touched an all-time low of 5 seats in the last General Elections.
CPI (M), which had won three seats in the 2019 elections coming precariously close to losing its national party status, has improved its seat tally marginally by one, making inroads into Rajasthan with the spectacular victory of its candidate Amra Ram, a noted farmer leader, who contested from Sikar.
Other CPI (M) candidates who won include K Radhakrishnan from Alathur in Karnataka, S Venkatesan from Madurai in Tamil Nadu and Sachithanantham R from Dindigul in Tamil Nadu.
“The CPI(M) and the Left parties have registered a marginal improvement in their tally. A more detailed analysis will be undertaken after the full election results are available. The verdict signals that the people are going to fight back all attacks on democracy, the Constitution and their livelihood,” according to a press communique issued by the CPI (M) polit bureau.
The Left parties are a part of the Congress-led INDIA alliance which posed a big challenge to the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The CPI, which won two seats in the 17th Lok Sabha elections, is set to maintain the number with its candidate V Selvaraj winning the Nagapattinam seat and Tirupur candidate K Subbarayan maintaining a significant lead.
In Bihar, the CPI (Marxist-Leninist) party managed to put up a good show with its candidates Sudama Prasad from Arrah and Raja Ram Singh from Karakat edging towards decisive victories.
United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate and veteran Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader NK Premachandran won the Kollam Lok Sabha seat, scoring his third victory in a row.
“The image of invincibility built around Narendra Modi and his boast of winning more than 400 seats is busted. The credible showing of the INDIA bloc countered Modi communal electioneering and championed issues of the defence of the Constitution, democracy and people’s livelihood issues. Ths verdict signals that our people are determined to fight back all attacks on the Constitution, democracy & livelihoods,” tweeted CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury.