A steering committee meeting of the Kerala Congress(M), held in Kottayam on Saturday to assess the party’s electoral rout in the Assembly polls, attributed the debacle primarily to cross-voting by Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] cadres and the consolidation of minority communities against the party.

According to KC(M) chairman Jose K. Mani, the outgoing Left Democratic Front (LDF) government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had pushed through a flurry of development initiatives, but failed to give those achievements a “popular political face.”

“The meeting also took note of massive cross-voting by CPI(M) cadres and the consolidation of minorities against the LDF as key factors behind the electoral setback,” he said.

Mr. Mani, however, maintained that the KC(M)’s core support base had largely held firm even amidst a massive pro-United Democratic Front (UDF) wave. “We polled 5.25 lakh votes this time against 6.81 lakh in 2021, which denotes a marginal decline of just 2.2%,” pointed out Mr. Mani.

He added that in most constituencies the party lost by thin margins of under 10,000 votes, while in seats such as Pala it ran the winner close. “The organisational base of the party remains intact. But taking lessons from the results, we are revisiting our fundamentals and undertaking a detailed post-mortem of the outcome,” he added.

As part of the exercise, the KC(M) will convene district-level meetings on May 15 and 16, followed by Assembly constituency- and ward-level discussions, ahead of a consolidated report to the leadership by May 27.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mani ruled out any possibility of a merger with the rival faction led by P.J. Joseph or a shift to the UDF. He also described the merger invitation extended by the rival group as “completely insincere.”

Sharp exchanges

Party sources said the meeting on Saturday saw sharp internal exchanges, with several leaders mounting criticism on the KC(M) leadership, particularly the faction led by Roshy Augustine, which had opposed an early move to the UDF after the local body elections in December 2025. The governance style of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government also came under pointed criticism during the discussions and was highlighted as a key reason for the electoral rout.

A section of leaders, meanwhile, voiced concern that the party could gradually lose its cadre base to the rival faction, which is expected to play a significant role in the UDF government over time.