CPI to review election defeat through statewide committee meetings

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPI has decided to hold committee meetings at the local level to closely review the reasons behind its election defeat, including issues related to candidate selection. Senior party leaders will attend the meetings, and all 25 constituencies contested by the party will undergo a detailed evaluation.

The party leadership has directed that the defeats in Nadapuram, Vaikom, Chadayamangalam, Adoor, and Chathannoor constituencies be examined seriously. There had been complaints even before the elections regarding flaws in candidate selection in these constituencies. However, the leadership did not take those concerns into account and strongly opposed changing the candidates.

After constituency-level meetings, district council meetings will be held from June 14 to 24. CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam, assistant secretary P. P. Suneer, and national secretariat members K. Prakash Babu and P. Santhosh Kumar will participate in the discussions. This will be followed by meetings of the state council and executive committee. The party had expected to win at least 15 out of the 25 seats it contested. However, it managed to secure only eight seats. Recent state leadership meetings decided that the reasons behind this poor performance must be examined in detail.

According to the CPI’s assessment, there was a strong anti-incumbency sentiment in Kerala. The party had earlier raised concerns about public dissatisfaction after the local body election setback and had informed the LDF leadership about it. However, CPI leaders allege that the CPM leadership did not take the warning seriously. The party believes that if corrective steps had been taken earlier, such a heavy defeat could have been avoided. These issues will now be discussed in committees down to the branch level. CPI leaders also feel that the Chief Minister’s style of functioning was one of the major reasons behind the defeat. They said that although the government implemented several welfare measures, it failed to effectively communicate them to the public.