Failure to read political trends and course correct in real time resulted in LDF’s defeat, feels CPI(M)

Published 9 June 2026 · politics

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State Committee has “self-critically acknowledged” that organisational failure to read the political trends for tactical course correction in

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State Committee has “self-critically acknowledged” that organisational failure to read the political trends for tactical course correction in real time on major issues and controversies that resonated with significant sections of the electorate caused the Left Democratic Front (LDF)’s defeat in the Assembly elections in Kerala. CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan told a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday (June 9, 2026) that a tacit deal between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the hustings compounded the scale of the LDF’s rout. BJP vote share decreased Govindan noted that the BJP’s vote share had dwindled in 30 Assembly constituencies compared to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. “The BJP’s loss was clearly the Congress’s gain. The Congress reciprocated by channelling votes to the BJP to defeat the LDF in constituencies across the State, and ensured the Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) win in three Assembly seats,” he said.

Govindan said that BJP State president Rajeev Chandrasekhar had implicitly acknowledged the “covert alliance” with the Congress by stating, after the polls, that his party’s primary goal was to defeat the LDF, not the United Democratic Front (UDF). Identity politics Govindan said the BJP succeeded to some extent in orchestrating a strategic polarisation of the majority community’s votes towards the politics of Hindutva by ratcheting up caste-identity politics. Govindan said the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) inadvertently complemented the BJP’s Hindutva pitch by brazenly seeking votes on religious lines. “The IUML and Jamaat-e-Islami-Kerala’s unabashed falsehood that the Union government’s Special Intensive Revision of voters’ lists seeking to disenfranchise Muslims, especially in north Kerala, had the Pinarayi Vijayan government’s imprimatur resonated strongly among minority community voters in the region,” he said.

Govindan said the CPI(M)’s failure to “more forcefully call out” Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan’s communally charged invective against the Muslim community sowed resentment among the minority community against the LDF government. He said the Travancore Devaswom Board's (TDB) decision to read out Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s message at the “ill-timed” Global Ayyappa Sangamam deepened minority antipathy towards the LDF. Sabarimala case The Sabarimala gold theft case and the CPI(M)’s failure to expel former TDB president and party leader A. Padmakumar, an accused in the alleged crime, provided sensational political ammunition for the Congress and the BJP to target the LDF. He said the CPI(M) erred in candidate selection in Kannur and failed to close ranks against the rebellion unleashed by veterans, chiefly G.