In a reversal of fortunes, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) has faced a significant electoral defeat in the recently concluded local body elections in Kerala. The setback, according to preliminary assessments by the CPI(M), can be partly attributed to the erosion of quality among its cadre, a concern that has been on the party’s agenda since 2015.
A decade ago, during the Kolkata Plenum in December 2015, the CPI(M) highlighted the growing tendency among some of its members to contest elections without a solid foundation. The report pointed out that certain cadres had been displeased when denied an opportunity to contest and had retaliated by withholding their work during elections. More recently, in the 2025 local body elections, this issue seemed to resurface as an unprecedented number of Left rebel candidates contested, contributing to factionalism within the party.
The CPI(M) has long been renowned for its meticulous ‘squad work’, or door-to-door campaigning. However, a decade in power appears to have bred complacency and lethargy among its cadre, who were outperformed by their counterparts from the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), particularly at the booth level.
For the UDF, which has been on a losing streak in local body and Assembly elections since 2015, the recent victory comes as a breath of fresh air, given another Assembly election is imminent. The LDF’s defeat can be partly attributed to factors beyond the CPI(M)’s control, but its internal issues have played a significant role in this reversal of fortunes.
