RMP at a crossroads after coming a cropper in polls

Party nominees could collectively secure fewer than 30,000 votes

K.K. Rema, one of RMP's strong contenders, could muster only 20,504 votes in the Vadakara constituency.

Leaders of the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP), even after holding a couple of review meetings, are yet to come to terms with the poor performance of the party in the recently concluded State Assembly polls.

The party had contested 11 seats, mainly in Kozhikode district, and had also forged an alliance with the SUCI (C) and MCPI (U). Besides, the party had supported Independents in a few Assembly constituencies.

One of its strong contenders, K.K. Rema, could muster only 20,504 votes in the Vadakara constituency.

The party nominees could collectively secure fewer than 30,000 votes in the State. The vote share of the party in many constituencies was abysmal. Its nominee K.C. Kumaran at Kuttiyadi got just 220 votes; K.T. Sivan at Balussery got 497 and T. Premnath at Kozhikode South got 166. There were allegations that the RMP workers at Kuttiyadi transferred votes to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) candidate so as to defeat Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] sitting legislator K.K. Lathika.

Vote share

The only solace for the party is that its vote share doubled when compared to the previous Assembly polls.

RMP secretary N. Venu said the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front cashed in on the sentiments of the minorities in the wake of the high voltage campaign of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies. “This State-wide trend also affected the performance of the party. We had to fight three coalitions,” he added.

The Assembly polls were a litmus test for the party leadership after the killing of T.P. Chandrasekharan on May 4, 2012. It was the factional feud in the CPI(M) in the district that resulted in the formation of the dissident outfit, RMP, although it is generally believed to be the swapping of its post of Eramala panchayat president with the Janata Dal(S) in 2008.

The present leadership has either failed to see the emerging political situation in the State or has not adopted a political strategy. Significantly, the party has somehow managed to maintain its position in the three-tier local bodies’ polls by winning more than 20 seats in different places, particularly in the Onchiyam belt of rural Kozhikode.