Jolted by one of the biggest defeats in its electoral history, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] in Kerala has decided to hold meetings at all levels to allow party members to voice their criticisms and opinions “fearlessly.”

Following a meeting of the party’s State secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan told media persons at the AKG Centre that the State leadership will prepare its election review and take corrective measures to win back the confidence of the people.

The decision to provide a platform for party members down to the branch committee level to express their opinions comes in the wake of crushing defeats for the party even in some of its strongholds in Kannur. The victory of CPI(M) rebels in some of these constituencies due to probable erosion of the party’s own vote base indicated some level of discontent at the local level.

Mr. Govindan said that the State secretariat which met on Tuesday had carried out only a preliminary assessment of the causes of the defeat, with a detailed analysis remaining to be done at all the levels of the party.

Organisational, political issues

“The party understands that there have been organisational and political issues as well as different kinds of negative propaganda against the party, which contributed to the defeat. The Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) vote share of 37.6% in this Assembly election is comparatively low. However, the LDF was able to secure only 35.1% in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and 33.35% in the 2025 Lok Sabha elections. The Left has a history of learning lessons from such setbacks and taking corrective steps to make a comeback. We will make honest assessments regarding this defeat at levels of the party,” he said.

The meetings from the party’s branch to the State level will be held in the months of May and June. District committee meetings will be held with a State secretariat member in attendance while the area committee meetings will have State committee members in attendance. Local committees will be convened with district committee members in attendance while branch committee meetings will have the presence of area committee members. “All the comrades across all levels will have the opportunity to raise issues freely and fearlessly. The party’s election review will be prepared based on the discussions in these meetings, instead of the State secretariat preparing a review and passing it to lower levels. All issues will be analysed with precision and corrective measures taken,” said Mr. Govindan.

He alleged that transfers were being carried out in several departments even before the new government under the United Democratic Front (UDF) was sworn in. “Based on letters from the leaders of services organisations, transfers are being issued. Under the LDF government, transfers were carried out only as per set norms. Such tendencies will be strongly opposed,” he said.

In the rather short press conference, Mr. Govindan did not take many questions, although queries were raised on the Leader of the Opposition, the criticisms against the party leadership, and outgoing Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s silence after the election verdict.