MALAPPURAM: The ruling party in a majority of local bodies, the CPM faces a dramatically different reality in Malappuram. In this Muslim-majority district, where the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) maintains an unshakeable hold, the CPM is not merely weak, it lacks even a single official party member in 14 local bodies. The organisational vacuum runs so deep that the party often struggles to field candidates on its own symbol.
Across several panchayats and municipalities, CPM-backed candidates now contest as independents, deliberately avoiding the iconic hammer, sickle and star. Of the district’s 10 municipalities, the party has no official councillors in Tanur and Tirurangadi. In Tanur alone, six councillors aligned with the LDF are independents.
“We reversed our negligible presence in Tanur by contesting as independents, securing six seats in 2020. All of us are CPM activists or sympathisers,” said P T Akbar, councillor of ward 13. Remarkably, Tanur elected seven BJP councillors, all under the lotus symbol.
The crisis is starker in block panchayats. The CPM failed to win even a single seat, officially or through independents, in two of the district’s 14 block panchayats. In Areacode, KC(M) and RMP have representation, but CPM has none.
In Vengara, IUML swept 14 of 15 seats. One seat went to the Congress. At the panchayat level, the party continues to rely heavily on independents. Of the district’s 94 panchayats, CPM has no official representation in 10.
CPM district secretary Anil V P maintains this is intentional. “We admit that CPM is weaker in Malappuram compared to other districts. So we need to be tactical to win more seats. Fielding independents is our tried-and-tested formula here,” he said. “In certain panchayats, our symbol simply doesn’t work. There, we choose popular local figures who are party sympathisers or workers and allow them to contest as independents. We will continue this strategy in upcoming elections as well,” he said.