In West Bengal, the Left has been in terminal decline. In Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Puducherry, it survives only in limited pockets. Kerala, the last remaining Left stronghold, is also likely to flip this time, according to exit polls. Even before the results are declared, the message is clear: Left parties are staring at yet another phase of marginalisation in electoral politics.
The Left Front comprises four parties: the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (CPI), the Forward Bloc, and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP). In their heyday, they were a dominant force in West Bengal, Kerala, and Tripura.
THE LOK SABHA STORY: A PARTY IN FREE FALL
In the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) won 33 seats. By 2004, that number rose to 43, with a vote share of 5.7 per cent which is its best-ever performance in a general election.
Then came a dramatic reversal. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the party managed just four seats, with its vote share shrinking to 1.8 percent. The Communist Party of India followed a similar trajectory, falling from 10 seats in 2004 to just two in 2024. The Forward Bloc and the RSP won none. Over six elections, the Left has gone from a bloc of more than 50 Lok Sabha seats to a marginal presence.
WEST BENGAL: THE STEEP DECLINE
Nowhere is the Left’s collapse more dramatic than in West Bengal. The CPI(M)-led Left Front ruled the state for an uninterrupted 34 years. In the 2006 Assembly elections, the CPI(M) alone won 176 out of 294 seats, with a vote share exceeding 37 per cent. The Forward Bloc won 23 seats, and the RSP secured 20. The Left Front then appeared unbeatable.
Then came 2011, and the story changed. Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress ended Left rule. By 2016, the CPI(M) was down to 26 seats. In the 2021 Assembly elections, all major Left parties, including CPI(M), CPI, the All India Forward Bloc, and the RSP, failed to win a single seat.
In 2026, exit polls suggest the contest in Bengal is now between the TMC and the BJP, with the Left unlikely to make a mark.
TRIPURA: FROM DOMINANCE TO DISAPPEARANCE
Tripura tells a similar story. The CPI(M) won 38 out of 60 seats in 2003, 46 in 2008, and 49 in 2013, governing the state for over two decades.
But in 2018, the BJP ended that dominance. The CPI(M) collapsed to 16 seats, while the CPI, RSP, and the Forward Bloc failed to open their accounts.
WHAT IF THE KERALA EXIT POLLS ARE RIGHT?
While the Left has declined nationally and across most states, Kerala stands apart.
Here, the Left has not just survived but strengthened. In the 2001 Assembly elections, the CPI(M) won 23 seats. Two decades later, that number rose to 62—a 2.5-fold increase. The CPI also grew, from seven seats in 2001 to 17 in 2021.
Kerala remains the only state where the Left continues to resonate. It also has the distinction of having had the world’s first democratically elected communist government.
Exit polls suggest the Congress-led UDF may return to power this time. But Kerala has long followed a pattern of alternating between the LDF and the UDF every five years. With declining fortunes elsewhere, will the Left Front survive yet another electoral loss?
– Ends
