JOIN USIf not for an alliance with the DMK in Tamil Nadu, the Left would have been left with a single seat from Kerala in the upcoming Lok Sabha.
It won five seats this time, four from Tamil Nadu and one from its lone surviving bastion in Kerala, down from the 10 seats in the outgoing Lok Sabha and two Left-backed Independents from Kerala.
The Left has failed to send a single MP from its erstwhile bastions in West Bengal and Tripura.
Reduced to its lowest tally ever, which was the main Opposition party in the first Lok Sabha, the Left's hopes of victories in Bihar were also thrashed when voters sent CPI's youth leader Kanhaiya Kumar, in Begusarai, and CPI(ML)'s Raju Yadav, in Arrah, home.
In 2004, at the height of its powers, the Left had won 63 seats and the CPM, the biggest Left party, then polled 5.66% of votes nationally, winning 43 seats by itself. But in 2009, the number was reduced to 16.
"This is one of our worst performances. Left parties need to introspect and rework its strategy on how to reconnect with people. But to say Left has lost relevance is not true. But we have to think how to cash in electorally," CPI national secretary D Raja told DH.
It was Tamil Nadu that gave some respectability to the Left this time, with the CPM having won Coimbatore and Madurai and CPI having won Nagapattinam and Tiruppur, riding on an alliance led by the DMK.
While it was decimated in West Bengal and Tripura from where they had four sitting CPM MPs, the results in Kerala was a rude shock as the Left did not expect such a drubbing.
Even its strong candidates in Kerala, like M B Rajesh, P K Biju and A Sampath, could not survive the onslaught from the Congress, which fared miserably elsewhere, with leaders suggesting that its pro-women entry stand on Sabarimala alienated a section of Hindus, while the minority communities stood behind the Congress.
The CPM could win only Alapuzha in Kerala, where the popular sitting MLA M A Arif won, even as at least eight Left candidates lost in the state by over one lakh votes.
The CPM has not yet recovered from its loss in the Tripura Assembly, where Congress candidates emerged second in both the seats, while in West Bengal, a BJP surge and Trinamool Congress' hold prevented the Left from retaining its sitting seats.
The Left, especially the CPI(M), was credited by other Opposition parties for setting the anti-BJP agenda since 2015 through consistent campaigns against the saffron party on lynching, Dalit attrocities, farm distress and other issues.
The bigger battle now is to remain relevant in national politics.
Despite the fact that electoral gains have not been impressive for the CPM in recent times, it had rallied a diverse range of liberals and anti-BJP activists on the same platform and even bridged the gap between Dalits and Marxists through the slogan "Neel Salaam, Lal Salaam".
The CPM was also seen as a prime mover of the Opposition unity.
Both the CPM and CPI, which so far enjoyed national relevance despite having few numbers in Parliament, may see their clout reducing if they do not reinvent and redefine its strategy.
A senior Left leader said they would have to take up people's struggles more vigorously.