Kerala Assembly election results 2026 | Kerala's Left bastion falls; questions remain over Pinarayi Vijayan's rule

Party does not seem to have learnt lessons from West Bengal where it was decimated after losing power in 2011 and repeated the same mistakes.

India will not have a Communist-led government for the first time since November 1969, barring a two-month gap in between, a development many put at the footstep of the CPI(M) leadership that refused to rein in Pinarayi Vijayan, who lorded over the party in Kerala.

The solace, though miniscule in nature, came from West Bengal where the CPI(M) was back to winning ways by claiming a seat — it won no seats in 2021 — as also in Tamil Nadu where the CPI(M) and the CPI emerged victorious with the help of its alliance leader DMK.

Some say the party did not learn lessons from West Bengal where it was decimated after losing power in 2011 and repeated the same mistakes, as 82-year-old Vijayan remained the power centre in Kerala and diluted the inner-party checks leading to concentration of power unlike in a Left party.

During the campaign phase itself, the CPI(M) leadership was made aware of the voters’ “anger” against Vijayan, who is considered “arrogant”, while local MLAs remained popular. The final results appear to indicate that this factor played a role in the defeat of some promising young lawmakers.

This is the same Chief Minister who bucked Kerala’s trend to return to power in 2021 after benching several incumbent MLAs and later going into his second term with a new batch of Ministers, excluding experienced hands, leading to much heartburns.

Interestingly, the CPI(M) and its allies went to polls with Left sympathisers warning against a third consecutive win, claiming that a victory would be detrimental to its future and the BJP making inroads in case of the Congress being kept away from power for another five years.

The CPI(M), the coalition leader, may not have lost much of its vote share but the defeat in Kerala would be an eye-opener, as three of its rebels, who left the party just ahead of polls, won as independents in Left strongholds in an open challenge to Vijayan. Two seats were in Kannur, Vijayan’s home district.

The victories in Payyannur — where the rebel raised incumbent MLA’s financial corruption — and Taliparamba — where the rebel objected to fielding of State Secretary M Govindan’s wife P K Shyamala, also a party leader — were the result of party’s inept handling of the crisis. Same was the case in Ambalapuzha where the party misread veteran G Sudhakaran’s influence.

The results also showed that Vijayan’s post-2024 manoeuvre of attempting to consolidate Hindu votes by indicating that the Left party is moving away from minorities also did not work. 

The CPI(M) central leadership may have to take the blame — though one may argue that Kerala corrected the 2021 anomaly when it bucked the trend to re-elect a government — for the defeat, as it refused to take control of the government as it did in the past. Vijayan was allowed the first and last word, subjugating others to silence in the party.

Taking antagonistic positions on popular struggles and bulldozing decisions in the name of a “strong” Chief Minister also did not work. Some even go to the extent of arguing that Vijayan’s body language also was not appreciated by a large section of society.

While the results will not mean an exit for the Left in Kerala, the party may see a new set of leaders taking charge in the near future. In West Bengal, a crop of young leaders have been cutting their teeth in electoral politics for the past couple years and the assignment for them would be to increase the Left’s influence in their State.