Communist Party of India (Marxist)

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.

File:Cpmrabindeb.jpg

CPI(M) election propaganda

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:

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