CHENNAI: By just considering strike rates, CPI Marxist - Leninist (Liberation) scored 63.16 per cent by winning 12 out 19 seats it contested in the Bihar elections last year. It came next to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that secured 67.27 per cent by winning 74 out of 110 seats it contested.
Though the electoral outcomes are completely different (with both the parties securing 3.16 per cent and 19.46 per cent vote share respectively), the strike rate refers to the share of seats won by a party out of the overall seats it contested in a given election.
Cut to Tamil Nadu.
Buoyed by its performance in the northern state, CPI (ML) Liberation is attempting to replicate the success in the State despite the party forfeiting deposits in all the seats it had contested since 1996 Assembly elections. Unlike its Left counterparts in the State, the party has preferred to stay away from electoral alliances (due to ideological differences) in the State and has been projecting itself as an alternative to the Dravidian parties, sources in the party said. For the upcoming elections, the party is contesting in 12 seats, including four reserved seats, in Tamil Nadu and one from Puducherry on 'flag with three stars' symbol.
Apart from fielding two women, the party has fielded two Dalits in general constituencies, the party's polit bureau member Shankar V told Express, adding that all of them (mostly agricultural labourers and
weavers) are hard workers born out of various agitations against issues bothering farmers, workers, and Dalits.
For instance, the sources informed that the party's Chengalpattu candidate C Erananiappan had spearheaded a movement to unionise workers in Anna Arignar Zoological Park in Vandalur for better pay and working conditions.
Interestingly, the party is in direct contest with CPI (Marxist) in Gandarvakottai constituency in Pudukottai district.
"Though CPI(M) knows that we are contesting in this seat for the last five elections, the party got it as part of DMK alliance. We did not get a proper response when raised the issue," sources said.
When asked about the party's performance in the State, N Sai Balaji, national president of the party's students wing All India Students Association (AISA), who has been campaigning for the candidates, said that the election system is so unequal.
"Common man who has been fighting for dignity and self-respect, the same aspects for which Periyar had fought, is unable to reach out to people because the system is unequal and filled with money. Candidates
from socially and economically weaker sections have no other way," he said, adding that people who want an alternative do not know if there is one.
Balaji, who had been the president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union (JNUSU), pitched for electoral reforms coupled with social transformation. Calling it a design to keep the suppressed
where they are, he said, until a level-playing field is created it is the haves who would have an upper hand.