Left parties forge alliances to revive fortunes

New Delhi: The Left parties have slid from their parliamentary pinnacle of 59 MPs in the Lok Sabha in 2004 to just five in 15 years. With elections around the corner, they are hoping to revive their fortunes by forging alliances and making seat adjustments across the country.

This time, the Left parties are contesting the least number of seats though they have fielded a few candidates in states where it has some presence, even against their own I.N.D.I.A. bloc allies to mark their presence and boost morale of its cadre. Their main aim is to concentrate on winnable seats for significant impact.

The CPI(M), the lynchpin of the Left Front, has already managed to extract two seats from DMK in Tamil Nadu and one each from the Congress and RJD in Rajasthan, Tripura and Bihar. They are hoping to get accommodated in Andhra Pradesh too.

Similarly, the CPI is contesting two seats in Tamil Nadu and one in Bihar, while fielding candidates against allies in some states.

Kerala remains the main hope for the Left where they won only one out of 20 seats in 2019. Meanwhile, they hope to retain four seats in Tamil Nadu. RSP, which won a single seat fighting against CPI(M) in Kerala could also be added to the Left kitty at the national level.

However, with stronger alliances in Rajasthan and Bihar, both CPI(M) and CPI are hoping to increase their numbers. In Bihar, CPI(ML)L, whose vote share declined from 0.33 per cent to 0.22 per cent, has got three seats in the 'Mahagathbandhan'.

CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury spells out why Left numbers should increase in Parliament: "A stronger presence of the Left, especially the CPI(M), in Parliament therefore is absolutely necessary to ensure that an alternative pro-people policy direction is adopted by a new alternative secular government."

While the Left's Parliamentary strength has been minimal, its impact on steering the agenda of the Opposition has been disproportionately higher, which has created occasional uneasiness in the I.N.D.I.A. bloc. 

At its peak in 2004, the CPI(M) had polled 5.66 per cent votes fighting 69 seats and winning 43 seats. However, this declined to just three seats in 2019 polling just 1.77 per cent. 

The CPM’s decline has been consistent: from winning 16 seats with a 5.33 per cent vote share in 2009 to nine seats with 3.28 per cent in 2014. In 2009, they contested 93 seats, reduced to 69 in 2014, and this time, they plan to field fewer than 50 candidates.

CPI's case is almost similar: it won ten out of the 34 seats it contested in 2004 with a 1.41 per cent vote share while it declined to four seats with 1.43 per cent votes in 2009, one seat in 2014 with 0.79 per cent votes and two seats with 0.59 per cent votes in 2019.

Forward Bloc which had representation in 2004 and 2009 drew a blank in the next two elections and its vote share declined from 0.35 per cent to 0.05 per cent while for RSP, the vote share slid from 0.43 per cent to 0.12 per cent and seats from three to one. 

For the Forward Bloc and RSP, the Left Front's decline in West Bengal had led to its diminished status. In 2004, Bengal sent 26 CPI(M) MPs to Lok Sabha while it declined to 16 in 2009 and to a dismal two last time. In 1999, it won 21 seats.