Kannur: Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, CPI, the country's oldest communist party, is going to face yet another electoral crisis. The CPI, which has lost its national party status, cannot field its candidates on the symbol of Ears of Corn and Sickle in all the states other than Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.
A big test for the CPI is that it will regain its symbol only if it puts up a better performance in the coming general elections and subsequent assembly polls. So, the CPI leaders are planning to contest as many seats under the INDIA alliance banner. Keeping it in mind, CPI leaders are bargaining hard for more seats.
The main condition to be recognized as a national party is that it should win not less than two per cent of the total seats in not less than three states in the most recent Lok Sabha elections. Or at least six per cent of the valid votes cast in four or more states in the assembly elections. Also, if a party has obtained the status of a state party in four states, the party will be treated as a national party. A party shall be recognized as a national party if 11 members of the Lok Sabha are elected from not less than three states.
CPI is recognized as a state party in Kerala. CPI candidates contesting from Kerala in the Lok Sabha polls can get its symbol, Ears of Corn and Sickle. There is no need to worry in Kerala as there are 17 CPI MLAs in the state assembly.
The CPI has two members in the Lok Sabha. Both are from Tamil Nadu. As CPI has got its MLAs in Tamil Nadu and Telangana Assemblies, its Lok Sabha candidates may get the election symbol there. But in North Indian states, CPI will not be able to contest on its symbol.
CPI National Executive Member P. Santhosh Kumar said that their party will fight back in this general election to retain its symbol and status. Discussions are going on with the INDIA alliance to contest about 40 seats, he said. As the party doesn't have state-level approval in some states, they will have to contest elections in independent symbols, he said, adding that there will be a decision on that as soon as the seat sharing is finalised.
Though Congress is the oldest political party, it changed party symbols a few times in the past. A pair of bullocks with a yoke was the first congress symbol. Later Indira Gandhi chose Cow with a sucking calf as the symbol in 1971. After Indira Gandhi formed Congress I in 1977 she chose the hand symbol.
It is the 99th anniversary year of the Communist Party of India. On December 26, 1925, a meeting of various communist groups in the country was held in Kanpur. The meeting chaired by M. Shinkaravelu Chettiar unanimously decided to form the Communist Party of India. S.V. Ghate was the National Secretary. A 16-member Central Executive Committee was also constituted. CPI's symbol Ears of Corn and Sickle has been used since the 1951 elections.
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