Too much focus on Vijayan, ‘soft Hindutva’ impression, Yogi message: CPM reviews Kerala election loss

5 min readThiruvananthapuramJul 28, 2026 12:41 PM IST Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan in Assembly. (Photo: PRD Kolkata)In a review of this year’s Assembly election in Kerala, the CPI(M) central committee said that weaving the election campaign just around former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, not putting enough emphasis on political messaging, and the “impression that we are soft towards Hindutva communal forces” were among the factors that led to the party losing power after a rare two consecutive terms in government. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) saw its voteshare drop from 44.44% in 2021 to 37.44% this year, and the CPI(M), which leads the alliance, recorded a voteshare of 21.77%, its lowest in 40 years. While the LDF won 99 of 140 seats in the last election, this year, it could only mus