CPI(M) review says ‘personalising’ campaign around Pinarayi Vijayan weakened political initiative in 2026 Kerala Assembly polls

Published 28 July 2026 · politics

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] review of the 2026 Kerala Assembly Election results pointed out that “personalising the (poll)

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] review of the 2026 Kerala Assembly Election results pointed out that “personalising the (poll) campaign and centring it solely around” former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan were among the several “political factors” that cost the Left Democratic Front (LDF) its campaign “initiative” in the polls. The review, published online on Monday (July 27, 2026), recorded that the “individualisation” fuelled the narrative that the CPI(M) campaign “revolved around one person”, and rendered the party ineffective in politically exposing the “reactionary, ruling class bias of the Congress party and the United Democratic Front (UDF).” The CPI(M)’s electoral tack also rendered Mr Vijayan the focus of a targeted vilification campaign by opponents, it noted. The review noted that the CPI(M)’s “disproportionate stress” on the social capital generated by the previous LDF government’s development and welfare policies hamstrung the party from garnering popular support by aggressively pushing its “anti-corporate, anti-communal and anti-neoliberal” politics to the fore of the election campaign.

The review stated that the ensuing deficiency of a “strong political campaign” hobbled the party from effectively countering the Congress-Jamaat-e-Islami-Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) campaign that the CPI(M) had struck a “secret deal” with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The UDF’s campaign “influenced and misled some sections of the Christian minority into joining the reactionary gang-up against the LDF”. The review flagged that a party minister’s declamation of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s (Yogi Adityanath) “solicited message” at the Travancore Devaswom Board-organised Global Ayyappa Sangamam “was a major embarrassment to the party’s secular image and harmed the CPI(M)’s election campaign”. The document termed the UP Chief Minister an “avowed Hindu fanatic”. It said the Minister’s “act sent a wrong message to the people and conveyed an impression that we [CPI(M)] are soft towards Hindutva communal forces”. The review “self-critically noted” that the CPI(M) State secretariat’s condemnation of the “anti-Muslim utterances of Vellappally Natesan (SNDP Yogam general secretary) was not a strong response and created the wrong impression that the party was “compromised in its fight against Hindu majoritarian communalism.” Critical of CPI on PM-SHRI The CPI(M) review was critical of the Communist Party of India’s (CPI) decision to rake up the PM-SHRI controversy (a federal funding programme for school education widely criticised as pro-Hindutva) on the eve of the declaration of the Assembly elections.