The Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), is a political party in India. It is strongest in West Bengal and Tripura, where it is holding government (2004). It split from the Communist Party of India in 1964 because of what it describes as the latter's revisionism and sectarianism. It claims to have 814,408 members as of 2002.
CPI(M) took 5,5% of vote in last legislative election (May 2004) and it has 43 MPs. They support new Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, but without taking part in it.
In West Bengal and Tripura it participates in Left Front. In Kerala the party is part of Left Democratic Front. In Tamil Nadu it is part of the Progressive Democratic Alliance.
In Hindi CPI(M) is often called MaKaPa (Marksvadi Kamyunist Party).
The current general secretary of CPI(M) is Harkishan Surjit Singh. The CPI(M) MP Somnath Chatterjee is the speaker of the Lok Sabha (2004). The 17th party congress of CPI(M), held in Hyderabad March 2002 elected a Central Committee with 79 members. The CC later elected a 17-member Polit Bureau:
- Harkishan Singh Surjeet
- Jyoti Basu
- E. Balanandan
- E.K. Nayar (deceased May 19 2004)
- V.S. Achuthanandan
- Prakash Karat
- Sitaram Yechury
- S. Ramachandran Pillai
- P. Ramachandran
- R. Umanath
- Anil Biswas
- Biman Bose
- Manik Sarkar
- Pinarai Vijayan
- M.K. Pandhe
- Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
- Kortala Satyanarayana
The principal mass organizations of CPI(M) are:
- Democratic Youth Federation of India
- Students Federation of India
- Centre of Indian Trade Unions
- All India Kisan Sabha (peasants' organization)
- All India Agricultural Workers Union
- All India Democratic Women's Association
In Tripura, the Ganamukti Parishad is a major mass organization.
From the Centre, two weekly newspapers are published, People's Democracy (English) and Lok Lehar (Hindi). On state level there are a variety of vernacular publications, including five daily newspaper;
- Ganashakti (West Bengal, Bengali)
- Deshabhimani (Kerala), Malayalam)
- Daily Desher Katha (Tripura, Bengali)
- Theekathir (Tamil Nadu, Tamil)
- Prajashakti (Andhra Pradesh, Telugu)
A large number of parties have been formed from splits of the CPI(M), such as Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Marxist Communist Party of India, Marxist Coordination Committee in Jharkhand, Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy and Communist Marxist Party in Kerala, Party of Democratic Socialism in West Bengal, Janganotantrik Morcha in Tripura, the Ram Pasla group in Punjab, Orissa Communist Party in Orissa, etc.
Lok Sabha Election Results
| State | No. of candidates 2004 | No. of elected 2004 | No. of candidates 1999 | No. of elected 1999 | Totalt no. of seats from the state |
| Andhra Pradesh | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 42 |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Assam | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 |
| Bihar | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 40 (2004)/54(1999) |
| Chhattisgarh | 0 | 0 | - | - | 11 (2004) |
| Goa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Gujarat | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 26 |
| Haryana | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| Jharkhand | 1 | 0 | - | - | 14 (2004) |
| Karnataka | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 28 |
| Kerala | 13 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 20 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 29 (2004)/40(1999) |
| Maharashtra | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 48 |
| Manipur | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Meghalaya | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mizoram | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Nagaland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Orissa | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 21 |
| Punjab | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 |
| Rajasthan | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 25 |
| Sikkim | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Tamil Nadu | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 39 |
| Tripura | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 80 (2004)/85 (1999) |
| Uttaranchal | 1 | 0 | - | - | 5 (2004) |
| West Bengal | 32 | 26 | 32 | 21 | 42 |
| Union Territories: | |||||
| Andaman & Nicobar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Chandigarh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Daman and Diu | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Delhi | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Lakshadweep | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Pondicherry | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total: | 69 | 43 | 72 | 33 | 543 |
State Election Results
| State | No. of candidates | No. of elected | Total no. of seats in Assembly | Year of Election |
| Andhra Pradesh | 14 | 9 | 294 | 2004 |
| Assam | 22 | 0 | 126 | 2001 |
| Bihar | 21 | 2 | 324 | 2000 |
| Chhattisgarh | 6 | 0 | 90 | 2003 |
| Delhi | 3 | 0 | 70 | 2003 |
| Goa | 3 | 0 | 40 | 2002 |
| Gujarat | 1 | 0 | 181 | 2002 |
| Haryana | 7 | 0 | 90 | 2000 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 4 | 0 | 68 | 2003 |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 7 | 2 | 87 | 2002 |
| Karnataka | 5 | 1 | 224 | 2004 |
| Kerala | 65 | 23 | 140 | 2001 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 9 | 1 | 230 | 2003 |
| Maharashtra | 23 | 2 | 288 | 1999 |
| Manipur | 1 | 0 | 60 | 2002 |
| Orissa | 3 | 1 | 147 | 2004 |
| Pondicherry | 3 | 0 | 30 | 2001 |
| Punjab | 13 | 0 | 117 | 2002 |
| Rajasthan | 18 | 1 | 200 | 2003 |
| Sikkim | 1 | 0 | 32 | 2004 |
| Tamil Nadu | 8 | 6 | 234 | 2001 |
| Tripura | 55 | 38 | 60 | 2003 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 6 | 2 | 402 | 2002 |
| Uttaranchal | 5 | 0 | 70 | 2002 |
| West Bengal | 211 | 143 | 294 | 2001 |
Results from the Election Commission of India website. Results does not deal with partitions of states (Bihar was bifurcated after the 2000 election, creating Jharkhand), defections and by-elections during the mandate period.
External links
- CPI(M) web site
- People's Democracy
- Ganashakti
- Deshabhimani
- Prajashakti
- All India Democratic Women's Association
- Centre for Indian Trade Unions
- Democratic Youth Federation of India
- Students Federation of India, Kerala
- Students Federation of India, Jawaharlal Nehru University
- Assorted CPI(M)-related images
See also: List of political parties in India, Politics of India, List of Communist Parties