New Delhi: CPI(M) on Sunday appeared to subtly differ from its allies on the Bihar debacle, indicating that the absence of a narrative and joint struggles against the BJP could be reasons for the NDA victory even as it said the party will examine whether the Election Commission’s “partisan” attitude and “abrupt” SIR have any role behind the I.N.D.I.A bloc’s poor show.
At the same time, it also called the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 12 states a “calculated political project” by the BJP-RSS, which was “operationalised through a pliant” EC and intended to “systematically disenfranchise millions of voters”.
The CPI(M) articulated these views after a two-day meeting of the party’s Polit Bureau here, which ended on Sunday, when the Bihar elections, SIR and other political developments were discussed. Sources said the top Left leaders were of the view that the lack of unity and a coherent narrative could have added to the I.N.D.I.A bloc’s agony.
CPI(M) contested four seats and won one seat – Ajay Kumar in Bhibutipur -while having an overall vote share of 0.60 per cent. In 2020, CPI(M) won two of the four seats it contested and garnered a 0.65 per cent vote share.
In a communique issued after the meeting, the CPI(M) said the NDA did not gain much in terms of votes compared to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections but was able to increase its tally.
It alleged that the NDA used the entire state machinery, resorted to various manipulations, deployed huge amounts of money and large numbers of cadres brought in from outside Bihar besides being benefitting from the “polarising communal and casteist rhetoric” of its leaders, “amplified by a pliant corporate media”, drowning out the people’s issues raised by the Opposition.
“The Bihar elections show that to defeat the BJP, opposition parties must make a more concerted effort leading joint struggles against its anti-people policies. The CPI(M) will examine in detail the partisan attitude of the ECI, the abrupt initiation of the SIR and all the other factors, if any, behind these results,” the Polit Bureau communique said.
Incidentally, the Congress and CPI(ML)L has categorically blamed “vote chori” and SIR for the debacle.
On the second phase of SIR, the CPI(M) said the exercise is modeled on the controversial Bihar process and it deliberately employs onerous documentation requirements and an archaic 2002 baseline to effectively function as a backdoor National Register of Citizens (NRC).
“Its primary objective is to alter the electoral demography to favour the ruling party and undermine the very foundations of universal adult suffrage, representing the most significant assault on electoral democracy,” it said adding that the CPI(MO) will campaign extensively against the ECI’s attempt to usurp the right to determine citizenship and to ensure that no eligible voter is removed from the voter’s list.