Communist Party of India

The Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest communist party in India and one of the eight national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in Kanpur on 26 December 1925.

History

Formation

The Communist Party of India was formed on 26 December 1925 at the first Party Conference in Kanpur, which was then known as Cawnpore. S.V. Ghate was the first General Secretary of CPI. There were many communist groups formed by Indians with the help of foreigners in different parts of the world, Tashkent group of Contacts were made with Anushilan and Jugantar the groups in Bengal, and small communist groups were formed in Bombay (led by S.A. Dange), Madras (led by Singaravelu Chettiar), United Provinces (led by Shaukat Usmani), Punjab, Sindh (led by Ghulam Hussain) and Bengal (led by Muzaffar Ahmed).

Involvement in independence struggle

During the 1920s and the early 1930s the party was badly organised, and in practice there were several communist groups working with limited national co-ordination. The British colonial authorities had banned all communist activity, which made the task of building a united party very difficult. Between 1921 and 1924 there were three conspiracy trials against the communist movement; First Peshawar Conspiracy Case, Meerut Conspiracy Case and the Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case. In the first three cases, Russian-trained muhajir communists were put on trial. However, the Cawnpore trial had more political impact. On 17 March 1924, Shripad Amrit Dange, M.N. Roy, Muzaffar Ahmed, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani, Singaravelu Chettiar, Ghulam Hussain and R.C. Sharma were charged, in Cawnpore (now spelt Kanpur) Bolshevik Conspiracy case. The specific pip charge was that they as communists were seeking “to deprive the King Emperor of his sovereignty of British India, by complete separation of India from imperialistic Britain by a violent revolution.” Pages of newspapers daily splashed sensational communist plans and people for the first time learned, on such a large scale, about communism and its doctrines and the aims of the Communist International in India.

Singaravelu Chettiar was released on account of illness. M.N. Roy was in Germany and R.C. Sharma in French Pondichéry, and therefore could not be arrested. Ghulam Hussain confessed that he had received money from the Russians in Kabul and was pardoned. Muzaffar Ahmed, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani and Dange were sentenced for various terms of imprisonment. This case was responsible for actively introducing communism to a larger Indian audience. Dange was released from prison in 1927. Rahul Dev Pal was a prominent communist leader

On 25 December 1925 a communist conference was organised in Kanpur. Colonial authorities estimated that 500 persons took part in the conference. The conference was convened by a man called Satya Bhakta. At the conference Satyabhakta argued for a ‘National communism’ and against subordination under Comintern. Being outvoted by the other delegates, Satyabhakta left the conference venue in protest. The conference adopted the name ‘Communist Party of India’. Groups such as Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan (LKPH) dissolved into the CPI. The émigré CPI, which probably had little organic character anyway, was effectively substituted by the organisation now operating inside India.

Soon after the 1926 conference of the Workers and Peasants Party of Bengal, the underground CPI directed its members to join the provincial Workers and Peasants Parties. All open communist activities were carried out through Workers and Peasants Parties.

The sixth congress of the Communist International met in 1928. In 1927 the Kuomintang had turned on the Chinese communists, which led to a review of the policy on forming alliances with the national bourgeoisie in the colonial countries. The Colonial theses of the 6th Comintern congress called upon the Indian communists to combat the ‘national-reformist leaders’ and to ‘unmask the national reformism of the Indian National Congress and oppose all phrases of the Swarajists, Gandhists, etc. about passive resistance’. The congress did however differentiate between the character of the Chinese Kuomintang and the Indian Swarajist Party, considering the latter as neither a reliable ally nor a direct enemy. The congress called on the Indian communists to utilise the contradictions between the national bourgeoisie and the British imperialists. The congress also denounced the WPP. The Tenth Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, 3 July 1929 – 19 July 1929, directed the Indian communists to break with WPP. When the communists deserted it, the WPP fell apart.

On 20 March 1929, arrests against WPP, CPI and other labour leaders were made in several parts of India, in what became known as the Meerut Conspiracy Case. The communist leadership was now put behind bars. The trial proceedings were to last for four years.

As of 1934, the main centres of activity of CPI were Bombay, Calcutta and Punjab. The party had also begun extending its activities to Madras. A group of Andhra and Tamil students, amongst them P. Sundarayya, were recruited to the CPI by Amir Hyder Khan.

The party was reorganised in 1933, after the communist leaders from the Meerut trials were released. A central committee of the party was set up. In 1934 the party was accepted as the Indian section of the Communist International.

When Indian left-wing elements formed the Congress Socialist Party in 1934, the CPI branded it as Social Fascist.

The League Against Gandhism, initially known as the Gandhi Boycott Committee, was a political organisation in Calcutta, founded by the underground Communist Party of India and others to launch militant anti-Imperialist activities. The group took the name ‘League Against Gandhism’ in 1934.

In connection with the change of policy of the Comintern toward Popular Front politics, the Indian communists changed their relation to the Indian National Congress. The communists joined the Congress Socialist Party, which worked as the left-wing of Congress. Through joining CSP, the CPI accepted the CSP demand for a Constituent Assembly, which it had denounced two years before. The CPI however analysed that the demand for a Constituent Assembly would not be a substitute for soviets.

In July 1937, clandestine meeting held at Calicut. Five persons were present at the meeting, P. Krishna Pillai, K. Damodaran, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, N. C. Sekhar and S.V. Ghate. The first four were members of the CSP in Kerala. The CPI in Kerala was formed on 31 December 1939 with the Pinarayi Conference. The latter, Ghate, was a CPI Central Committee member, who had arrived from Madras. Contacts between the CSP in Kerala and the CPI had begun in 1935, when P. Sundarayya (CC member of CPI, based in Madras at the time) met with EMS and Krishna Pillai. Sundarayya and Ghate visited Kerala at several times and met with the CSP leaders there. The contacts were facilitated through the national meetings of the Congress, CSP and All India Kisan Sabha.

In 1936–1937, the co-operation between socialists and communists reached its peak. At the 2nd congress of the CSP, held in Meerut in January 1936, a thesis was adopted which declared that there was a need to build ‘a united Indian Socialist Party based on Marxism-Leninism’. At the 3rd CSP congress, held in Faizpur, several communists were included into the CSP National Executive Committee.

In Kerala communists won control over CSP, and for a brief period controlled Congress there.

Two communists, E.M.S. Namboodiripad and Z.A. Ahmed, became All India joint secretaries of CSP. The CPI also had two other members inside the CSP executive.

On the occasion of the 1940 Ramgarh Congress Conference CPI released a declaration called Proletarian Path, which sought to utilise the weakened state of the British Empire in the time of war and gave a call for general strike, no-tax, no-rent policies and mobilising for an armed revolutionary uprising. The National Executive of the CSP assembled at Ramgarh took a decision that all communists were expelled from CSP.

In July 1942, the CPI was legalised, as a result of Britain and the Soviet Union becoming allies against Nazi Germany. Communists strengthened their control over the All India Trade Union Congress. At the same time, communists were politically cornered for their opposition to the Quit India Movement.

CPI contested the Provincial Legislative Assembly elections of 1946 of its own. It had candidates in 108 out of 1585 seats. It won in eight seats. In total the CPI vote counted 666 723, which should be seen with the backdrop that 86% of the adult population of India lacked voting rights. The party had contested three seats in Bengal, and won all of them. One CPI candidate, Somnath Lahiri, was elected to the Constituent Assembly.

The Communist Party of India opposed the partition of India and did not participate in the Independence Day celebrations of 15 August 1947 in protest of the division of the country.

After independence

During the period around and directly following Independence in 1947, the internal situation in the party was chaotic. The party shifted rapidly between left-wing and right-wing positions. In February 1948, at the 2nd Party Congress in Calcutta, B. T. Ranadive (BTR) was elected General Secretary of the party. The conference adopted the ‘Programme of Democratic Revolution’. This programme included the first mention of struggle against caste injustice in a CPI document.

In several areas the party led armed struggles against a series of local monarchs that were reluctant to give up their power. Such insurgencies took place in Tripura, Telangana and Kerala. The most important rebellion took place in Telangana, against the Nizam of Hyderabad. The Communists built up a people’s army and militia and controlled an area with a population of three million. The rebellion was brutally crushed and the party abandoned the policy of armed struggle. BTR was deposed and denounced as a ‘left adventurist’.

In Manipur, the party became a force to reckon with through the agrarian struggles led by Jananeta Irawat Singh. Singh had joined CPI in 1946. At the 1951 congress of the party, ‘People’s Democracy’ was substituted by ‘National Democracy’ as the main slogan of the party.

Communist Party was founded in Bihar in 1939. Post independence, communist party achieved success in Bihar (Bihar and Jharkhand). Communist party conducted movements for land reform, trade union movement was at its peak in Bihar in the sixties, seventies and eighties. Achievement of communists in Bihar placed the communist party in the forefront of left movement in India. Bihar produced some of the legendary leaders like Kishan leaders Sahajanand Saraswati and Karyanand Sharma, intellectual giants like Jagannath Sarkar, Yogendra Sharma and Indradeep Sinha, mass leaders like Chandrasekhar Singh and Sunil Mukherjee, Trade Union leaders like Kedar Das and others. It was in Bihar that JP’s total revolution was exposed and communist party under the leadership of Jagannath Sarkar fought Total Revolution and exposed its hollowness. “Many Streams” Selected Essays by Jagannath Sarkar and Reminiscing Sketches, Compiled by Gautam Sarkar, Edited by Mitali Sarkar, First Published : May 2010, Navakaranataka Publications Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore . In the Mithila region of Bihar Bhogendra Jha led the fight against the Mahants and Zamindars. He later went on the win Parliamentary elections and was MP for seven terms.

In early 1950s young communist leadership was uniting textile workers, bank employees and unorganised sector workers to ensure mass support in north India. National leaders like S A Dange, Chandra Rajeswara Rao and P K Vasudevan Nair were encouraging them and supporting the idea despite their differences on the execution. Firebrand Communist leaders like Homi F. Daji, Guru Radha Kishan, H L Parwana, Sarjoo Pandey, Darshan Singh Canadian and Avtaar Singh Malhotra were emerging between the masses and the working class in particular. This was the first leadership of communists that was very close to the masses and people consider them champions of the cause of the workers and the poor. In Delhi, May Day (majdoor diwas or mai diwas) was organised at Chandni Chowk Ghantaghar in such a manner that demonstrates the unity between all the factions of working classes and ignite the passion for communist movement in the northern part of India.

In 1952, CPI became the first leading opposition party in the Lok Sabha, while the Indian National Congress was in power.

Communist movement or CPI in particular emerged as a front runner after Guru Radha Kishan undertook a fast unto death for 24 days to promote the cause of textile workers in Delhi. Till than it was a public misconception that communists are revolutionaries with arms in their hands and workers and their families were afraid to get associated with the communists but this act mobilised general public in the favour of communist movement as a whole. During this period people with their families used to visit ‘dharna sthal’ to encourage CPI cadre.

This model of selflessness for the society worked for the CPI far more than what was expected. This trend was followed by almost all other state units of the party in the Hindi heartland. Communist Party related trade union AITUC became a prominent force to unite the workers in textile, municipal and unorganised sectors, the first labour union in unorganised sector was also emerged in the leadership of Comrade Guru Radha Kishan during this period in Delhi’s Sadar Bazaar area. This movement of mass polarisation of workers in the favour of CPI worked effectively in Delhi and paved the way for great success of CPI in the elections in working class dominated areas in Delhi. Comrade Gangadhar Adhikari and E.M.S. Namboodiripad applauded this brigade of dynamic comrades for their selfless approach and organisational capabilities. This brigade of firebrand communists gained more prominence when Telangana hero Chandra Rajeswara Rao to be General Secretary of the Communist Party of India.

In the 1952 Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly election, Communist Party was banned, so it couldn’t take part in the election process. In the general elections in 1957, the CPI emerged as the largest opposition party. In 1957, the CPI won the state elections in Kerala. This was the first time that an opposition party won control over an Indian state. E. M. S. Namboodiripad became Chief Minister. At the 1957 international meeting of Communist parties in Moscow, the Communist Party of China directed criticism at the CPI for having formed a ministry in Kerala.

Liberation of Dadra-Nagar Haveli: The Communist Party of India, along with its units in Bombay, Maharashtra and Gujarat, decided to start armed operations in the area in the July 1954. Both the areas were liberated by the beginning of August. Communist leaders like Narayan Palekar, Parulekar, Vaz, Rodriguez, Cunha and others emerged as the famous Communist leaders of this movement. Thereafter, the struggle to liberate Daman and Diu was begun by the Communist Party in Gujarat and other forces.

Goa Satyagraha: The countrywide Goa satyagraha of 1955-56 is among the unforgettable pages in the history of freedom struggle, in which the Communists played a major and memorable role. The CPI decided to send batches of satyahrahis since the middle of 1955 to the borders of Goa and even inside. Many were killed, many more others arrested and sent to jails inside Goa and inhumanly treated. Many others were even sent to jails in Portugal and were brutally tortured. The satyagraha was led and conducted by a joint committee known as Goa Vimochan Sahayak Samiti. S.A. Dange, Senapati Bapat, S.G. Sardesai, Nana Patil and several others were among the prominent leaders of the Samiti. Satyagraha began on 10 May 1955, and soon became a countrywide movement.

Ideological differences led to the split in the party in 1964 when two different party conferences were held, one of CPI and one of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

During the period 1970–77, CPI was allied with the Congress party. In Kerala, they formed a government together with Congress, with the CPI-leader C. Achutha Menon as Chief Minister. After the fall of the regime of Indira Gandhi, CPI reoriented itself towards co-operation with CPI(M).

In the 1980s, CPI opposed the Khalistan movement at Punjab. In 1986, CPI’s leader in Punjab and MLA in the Punjabi legislature Darshan Singh Canadian was assassinated by Sikh extremists. Altogether about 200 communist leaders out of which most were Sikhs were killed by Sikh extremists in Punjab.

Present situation

CPI was recognised by the Election Commission of India as a ‘National Party’. To date, CPI happens to be the only national political party from India to have contested all the general elections using the same electoral symbol. Owing to a massive defeat in 2019 Indian general election where the party saw its tally reduce to 2 MP, the Election Commission of India has sent a letter to CPI asking for reasons why its national party status should not be revoked. If similar performance is repeated in the next election, the CPI will no longer be a national party.

On the national level they supported the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government along with other parliamentary Left parties, but without taking part in it. Upon attaining power in May 2004, the United Progressive Alliance formulated a programme of action known as the Common Minimum Programme. The Left bases its support to the UPA on strict adherence to it. Provisions of the CMP mentioned to discontinue disinvestment, massive social sector outlays and an independent foreign policy.

On 8 July 2008, the General Secretary of CPI(M), Prakash Karat, announced that the Left was withdrawing its support over the decision by the government to go ahead with the United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act. The Left parties combination had been a staunch advocate of not proceeding with this deal citing national interests.

In West Bengal it participates in the Left Front. It also participated in the state government in Manipur. In Kerala the party is part of Left Democratic Front. In Tripura the party is a partner of the Left Front, which governed the state till 2018. In Tamil Nadu it is part of the Secular Progressive Alliance and in Bihar it is the part of Mahagathbandhan. It is involved in the Left Democratic Front in Maharashtra. In 2022 February CPI and Congress formed an alliance in Manipur named Manipur Progressive Secular Alliance. The current general secretary of CPI is D. Raja.

Presence in states

As of 2020, the CPI is a part of the state government in Kerala. Pinarayi Vijayan is Chief Minister of Kerala. CPI have 4 Cabinet Ministers in Kerala. In Tamil Nadu it is in power with SPA coalition led by M. K. Stalin. The Left Front governed West Bengal for 34 years (1977–2011) and Tripura for 25 years (1993–2018)

State Governments

S.No	State/	Govt Since	Chief Minister						Alliance	Coalition Seats in Assembly	Last election
			Portrait	Name	Party		Seats	Since
1	Kerala	26 May 2016		Pinarayi Vijayan		CPI(M)	62	26 May 2016	Left Democratic Front (Kerala)	99 / 140	6 April 2021
2	Tamil Nadu	7 May 2021		M. K. Stalin		DMK	133	7 May 2021	Secular Progressive Alliance	159 / 234	6 April 2021

Seats won by CPI in state legislative assemblies

State legislative assembly	Last election	Contested seats	Seats won	Alliance		Result	Ref.
Bihar Legislative Assembly	2020	6	2 / 243		Mahagathbandhan	in opposition
Kerala Legislative Assembly	2021	23	17 / 140		Left Democratic Front	in government
Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly	2021	6	2 / 234		Secular Progressive Alliance	in Government

Seats won by CPI in state legislative councils

State legislative assembly	Last election	Contested seats	Seats won	Alliance		Result	Ref.
Bihar Legislative Council	2020	2	2 / 75		Mahagathbandhan	in opposition

List of Members of Parliament

List of Rajya Sabha (Upper House) members

No.	Name	State	Date of Appointment	Date of Retirement
1	Binoy Viswam	Kerala	2 July 2018	1 July 2024

List of Lok Sabha (Lower House) members

No.	Name	Constituency	State
1	K. Subbarayan	Tiruppur	Tamil Nadu
2	M. Selvarasu	Nagapattinam	Tamil Nadu

Leadership

The following are the members of the Central Control Commission, National Council and Candidate Members to National Council, National Executive, National Secretariat and Party Programme Commission were elected at the 23rd Party Congress of Communist Party of India held from 25 to 29 April 2018 in Kollam, Kerala.

General Secretary

• D. Raja

National Secretariat

1. S. Sudhakar Reddy
2. D. Raja
3. Atul Kumar Anjaan
4. Amarjeet Kaur
5. Ramendra Kumar
6. K. Narayana
7. Kanam Rajendran
8. Binoy Viswam
9. Bhalchandra Kango
10. Pallab Sen Gupta

National Executive

1. S. Sudhakar Reddy
2. D. Raja
3. Atul Kumar Anjaan
4. Amarjeet Kaur
5. Ramendra Kumar
6. K. Narayana
7. Kanam Rajendran
8. Binoy Viswam
9. Bhalchandra Kango
10. Pallab Sengupta
11. Nagendra Nath Ojha
12. Girish Sharma
13. Annie Raja
14. Azeez Pasha
15. K. Ramakrishna
16. Satya Narayan Singh
17. Janaki Paswan
18. Ram Naresh Pandey
19. Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta
20. K.E. Ismail
21. Moirangthem Nara
22. Dibakar Naik
23. R. Mutharasan
24. C. Mahendran
25. Chada Venkat Reddy
26. K. Subbarayan
27. Swapan Banerjee
28. Bant Singh Brar
29. Munin Mahanta
30. C.H. Venkatachalam

Ex-Officio Members

1. Pannian Ravindran (Chairperson, Central Control Commission)

Invitees

1. Rama Krushna Panda
2. Manish Kunjam

National Council Members

Members from Centre:

• S. Sudhakar Reddy
• D. Raja
• Atul Kumar Anjaan
• Ramendra Kumar
• Amarjeet Kaur
• K. Narayana
• Nagendra Nath Ojha
• Bhalchandra Kango
• Binoy Viswam
• Pallab Sengutpa
• Azeez Pasha
• Annie Raja – Women Front
• CH Venkatachalam – Bank Front
• B.V. Vijaylakshmi – TU Front
• S. V. Damle – TU Front
• Vidyasagar Giri – TU Front
• R.S. Yadav – Mukti Sangharsh
• Manish Kunjam – Tribal Front
• C. Srikumar – Defence
• Gargi Chakravarthy – Women Front
• Anil Rajimwale – Education Department
• Viswajeet Kumar – Student Front
• R. Thirumalai – Youth Front
• A.A. Khan – Minority Front

Andhra Pradesh

• K. Ramakrishna
• M.N. Rao
• J.V.S.N. Murthy
• Jalli Wilson
• Akkineni Vanaja

Assam

• Munin Mahanta
• Kanak Gogoi

Bihar

• Ram Naresh Pandey
• Janki Paswan
• Jabbar Alam
• Rajendra Prasad Singh
• Rageshri Kiran
• Om Prakash Narayan
• Pramod Prabhakar
• Ram Chandra Singh
• Nivedita

Chhattisgarh

• R.D.C.P. Rao
• Rama Sori

Delhi

• Dhirendra K. Sharma
• Prof. Dinesh Varshney

Goa

• Christopher Fonseca

Gujarat

• Raj Kumar Singh
• Vijay Shenmare

Haryana

• Dariyao Singh Kashyap

Himachal Pradesh

• Shayam Singh Chauhan

Jharkhand

• Bhubaneshwar Prasad Mehta
• K.D. Singh
• Rajendra Prasad Yadav
• Mahendra Pathak

Jammu and Kashmir

Vacant

Karnataka

• P.V. Lokesh
• Saathi Sundaresh

Kerala

• Kanam Rajendran
• K.E. Ismail
• K. Prekash Babu
• E. Chandrasekharan
• Adv. P. Vasantham
• T.V. Balan
• C.N. Jayadevan
• K.P. Rajendran
• J. Chinchu Rani
• N. Anirudhan
• N. Rajan

Manipur

• Moirangthem Nara
• L. Sotin Kumar

Meghalaya

• Samudra Gupta

Maharashtra

• Tukaram Bhasme
• Namdev Gavade
• Ram Baheti
• Prakash Reddy

Madhya Pradesh

• Arvind Shrivastava
• Haridwar Singh

Odisha

• Dibakar Nayak
• Ashish Kanungo
• Abhaya Sahu
• Ramakrushna Panda
• Souribandhu Kar

Puducherry

• A. M. Saleem
• A. Ramamoorthy

Punjab

• Bant Singh Brar
• Jagrup Singh
• Hardev Singh Arshi
• Nirmal Singh Dhaliwal
• Jagjit Singh Joga

Rajasthan

• Narendra Acharya
• Tara Singh Sidhu

Tamil Nadu

• R. Nallakkannu
• R. Mutharasan
• C. Mahendran
• K. Subbarayan
• M. Veerapandian
• T.M. Murthi
• G. Palaniswamy
• P. Padmavathi
• P. Sethuraman

Telangana

• Chada Venkat Reddy
• Palla Venkat Reddy
• K. Sambasiva Rao
• Pasya Padma
• K. Srinivas Reddy
• K. Shanker
• T. Srinivas Rao

Tripura

• Ranjit Majumdar

Uttar Pradesh

• Girish Sharma
• Arvind Raj Swarup
• Imtiyaz Ahmed
• Prof. Nisha Rathor
• Ram Chand Saras
• Shyam Mohan Singh

Uttarakhand

• Samar Bhandari

West Bengal

• Swapan Banerjee
• Manju Kumar Mazumdar
• Santosh Rana
• Shyama Sree Das
• Ujjawal Chaudhury
• Chittaranjan Das Thakur
• Prabir Deb
• Tarun Das

Candidate Members

• Prof. Arun Kumar
• N. Chidambaram
• Arun Mitra
• M. Bal Narsima
• Mithlesh Jha
• Suhaas Naik
• Mahesh Kakkath
• Kh. Surchand Singh
• Richard B. Thabah
• G. Obulesu
• Vicky Mahesari
• Shuvam Banerjee

Invitee Members

• Bhupender Sambar
• Periyaswamy
• Gulzar Singh Goria
• Aruna Sinha
• Asomi Gogoi
• Kannagi
• Usha Sahani
• Indra Mani Devi
• Durga Bhavani
• R. C. Singh
• Amiya Kumar Mohanty

Central Control Commission

1. Pannian Ravindran (Chairman)
2. C. A. Kurian
3. Dr Joginder Dayal (Punjab)
4. C.R. Bakshi (Chhattisgarh)
5. P.J.C. Rao (Andhra Pradesh)
6. Bijoy Narayan Mishra (Bihar)
7. Moti Lal (Uttar Pradesh)
8. M. Sakhi Devi (Tripura)
9. T. Narsimhan (Telangana)
10. M. Arumugham (Tamil Nadu)
11. Apurba Mandal (West Bengal

Party Programme Commission

1. Pallab Sen Gupta
2. K. Prekash Babu
3. C.R. Bakshi
4. Moirangthem Nara
5. Anil Rajimwale

State Council Secretaries

Sources

• Andhra Pradesh : K. Ramakrishna
• Assam : Munin Mahanta
• Bihar : Ram Naresh Pandey
• Chhattisgarh : RDCP Rao
• Delhi :Prof.Dinesh Varshney
• Goa : RD Mangueshkar
• Gujarat : Rajkumar Singh
• Haryana : Dariyao Singh Kashyap
• Himachal Pradesh : Shayam Singh Chauhan
• Jharkhand : Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta
• Kerala : Kanam Rajendran
• Karnataka : Saathi Sundaresh
• Maharashtra : Prakash Reddy
• Madhya Pradesh : Arvind Shrivastava
• Manipur : L. Sotin Kumar
• Meghalaya : Samudra Gupta
• Odisha : Ashish Kanungo
• Puducherry : A. M. Saleem
• Punjab : Bant Singh Brar
• Rajasthan : Narendra Acharya
• Tamil Nadu : R. Mutharasan
• Telangana : Chada Venkat Reddy
• Uttar Pradesh : Girish Sharma
• Uttarakhand : Samar Bhandari
• West Bengal : Swapan Banerjee

List of General secretaries and Chairmen of CPI

Article XXXII of the party constitution says:

“The tenure of the General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary, if any, and State Secretaries is limited to two consecutive terms—a term being of not less than two years. In exceptional cases, the unit concerned may decide by three-fourth majority through secret ballot to allow two more terms. In case such a motion is adopted that comrade also can contest in the election along with other candidates. As regards the tenure of the office-bearers at district and lower levels, the state councils will frame rules where necessary.”

General secretaries and Chairmen

Number	Photo	Name	Tenure
1st		Sachchidanand Vishnu Ghate	1925-1933
2nd		Gangadhar Adhikari	1933-1935
3rd		Puran Chand Joshi	1935-1948
4th		B. T. Ranadive	1948-1950
5th		Chandra Rajeswara Rao	1950-1951, 1964-1990
6th		Ajoy Ghosh	1951-1962
Chairman		Shripad Amrit Dange	1962-1981
7th		E. M. S. Namboodiripad	1962-1964
8th		Indrajit Gupta	1990-1996
9th		Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan	1996-2012
10th		Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy	2012-2019
11th		D. Raja	2019–Incumbent

Party Congress

Party Congress 

Party Congress	Year	Place
Founding Conference	1925 December 25 – 28	Kanpur
1st	1943 May 23–1 June	Bombay
2nd	1948 February 28–27 March	Calcutta
3rd	1953 December 27 – 1, 954 January 4	Madurai
4th	1956 April 19 – 29	Palghat
5th	1958 April 6 – 13	Amritsar
6th	1961 April 7 – 16	Vijayawada
7th	1964 December 13 – 23	Bombay
8th	1968 February 7 – 15	Patna
9th	1971 October 3 – 10	Cochin
10th	1975 January 27–2 February	Vijayawada
11th	1978 March 31–7 April	Bathinda
12th	1982 March 22 – 28	Varanasi
13th	1986 March 2 – 17	Patna
14th	1989 March 6 – 12	Calcutta
15th	1992 April 10 – 16	Hyderabad
16th	1995 October 7 – 11	Delhi
17th	1998 September 14 – 19	Chennai
18th	2002 March 26 – 31	Thiruvananthapuram
19th	2005 March 29–3 April	Chandigarh
20th	2008 March 23 – 27	Hyderabad
21st	2012 March 27 – 31	Patna
22nd	2015 March 25 – 29	Puducherry
23rd	2018 April 25 – 29	Kollam

Principal mass organisations

• All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC)
• All India Students’ Federation (AISF)
• All India Youth Federation (AIYF)
• National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW)
• All India Kisan Sabha – AIKS (peasants organisation)
• Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union – BKMU (agricultural workers)
• Indian People’s Theatre Association – IPTA (cultural wing)
• All India State Government Employees Federation (State government employees)
• Indian Society for Cultural Co-operation and Friendship (ISCUF)
• All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO)
• Progressive Writers’ Association (PWA)
• All India Adivasi Mahasabha (Tribal Wing)
• All India Dalit Rights Movement (AIDRM)
• Tamil Nadu Oppressed People’s Movement
• People’s Service Corps
• Ganamukti Parishad

In Tripura, the Ganamukti Parishad is a major mass organisation amongst the Tripuri peoples of the state.

Former chief ministers

Former chief ministers 

Photo	Name	Tenure	State
	E. M. S. Namboodiripad	(1957 – 1959)	Kerala
	C. Achutha Menon	(1969 – 1970; 1970 – 1977)
	P. K. Vasudevan Nair	(1978 – 1979)

Notable leaders

• Abdul Sattar Ranjoor – Founding state secretary of the CPI in Jammu and Kashmir
• Ajoy Ghosh – Former general secretary of CPI, freedom fighter
• Amarjeet Kaur – General Secretary of AITUC and National Secretary of CPI
• Annabhau Sathe – Samyukta Maharashtra movement leader
• Annie Raja – General Secretary of NFIW and National Executive Member of CPI
• Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan – Former general secretary
• Aruna Asaf Ali – Freedom fighter
• Binoy Viswam – Member of Rajya Sabha, Former minister in the Government of Kerala
• Bhargavi Thankappan – Parliamentarian
• Bhupesh Gupta – Parliamentarian
• C. Achutha Menon – Finance minister in first Kerala ministry Former chief minister of Kerala
• C. Divakaran – Senior leader, former minister and National Council Member from Kerala
• Chandra Rajeswara Rao – former general secretary, Telangana freedom fighter
• Chaturanan Mishra parliamentarian & former Central Minister of India
• Chittayam Gopakumar – Deputy Speaker of Kerala Legislative Assembly and State council member
• C. K. Chandrappan – Parliamentarian & former Kerala state secretary of the party
• C. N. Jayadevan – Senior leader, parliamentarian
• Dhanwantri – one of the founder of communist party in Jammu & Kashmir
• Darshan Singh Canadian – Trade Unionist, fight against Khalistan movement
• D. Pandian – Parliamentarian & former Tamil Nadu state secretary
• D. Raja – parliamentarian & General secretary of the party
• E. Chandrasekharan Nair – Senior leader and former Minister in the Government of Kerala
• Geeta Mukherjee – Parliamentarian & Former Vice President of National Federation of Indian Women
• Govind Pansare – Prominent activist and lawyer
• Gurudas Dasgupta – Parliamentarian & Former General Secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union
• Hajrah Begum – former general secretary of NFIW
• Hasrat Mohani – founding member
• Hijam Irabot – Founder leader of CPI in Manipur
• Hirendranath Mukherjee-Parliamentarian & He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1990 and Padma Vibhushan in 1991 by the President of India for his lifelong services
• Ila Mitra – Peasant Movement Leader from West Bengal
• Indrajit Gupta – Parliamentarian, former general secretary and a former central minister
• Jagannath Sarkar – former National Secretary, freedom fighter, builder of communist movement in Bihar and Jharkhand
• Junu Das – Prominent leader of CPI
• Kalpana Datta – freedom fighter
• Kanam Rajendran – Current Kerala state secretary of the party
• K.N. Joglekar – founding member of CPI
• Meghraj Tawar – Former Rajasthan MLA and leader of the CPI
• M. Kalyanasundaram – Parliamentarian
• M. N. Govindan Nair – Kerala state secretary during the first communist ministry and a freedom fighter
• Mohit Banerji – Prominent Leader
• Nallakannu – former Tamil Nadu state secretary of the party
• N.E. Balaram – Founding leader of the communist movement in Kerala, India
• Pannyan Raveendran – Former Kerala state secretary of the party
• Parvathi Krishnan – Parliamentarian
• P. Krishna Pillai – Founder and First secretary of CPI in Kerala
• P. K. Vasudevan Nair – Former Chief minister of Kerala, Former AISF general secretary, Former AIYF general secretary
• Puran Chand Joshi – first general secretary of the Communist Party of India
• P. S. Sreenivasan – Former Minister of Kerala
• Rajaji Mathew Thomas – Journalist, former MLA and CPI National council Member, from Kerala
• Ramendra Kumar – Former Parliamentarian, national executive member, national president AITUC
• Rosamma Punnoose – Freedom Fighter
• R.Sugathan – Prominent trade unionist, mass leader and member of Kerala Legislative assembly
• Sachchidanand Vishnu Ghate – First general secretary of CPI, freedom fighter
• S.S. Mirajkar – Trade Unionist, Freedom fighter
• Suhasini Chattopadhyay – founding member of CPI
• Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy – former general secretary of the party & parliamentarian
• Shripad Amrit Dange – Freedom fighter & former chairman of the party
• Thoppil Bhasi – Writer, film director & parliamentarian
• T. V. Thomas – Minister in first Kerala ministry
• Veliyam Bharghavan – Parliamentarian & Former Kerala state secretary of the party
• Vidya Munshi – Journalist
• Vimla Dang – leader of CPI
• V. S. Sunil Kumar – Former Agriculture Minister in Kerala
• V.V. Raghavan -CPI Central Secretariat Member,Two time Loksabha Member from Thrissur Kerala, Rajya sabha Member, Former Agriculture Minister of Kerala

General election results

Performance of Communist Party of India in Lok Sabha elections

Lok Sabha	Year	Total Lok Sabha constituencies	Seats won / contested	Change in seats	Total votes	Percentage of votes	Change in vote %	Ref.
First	1952	489	16 / 49	–	3,487,401	3.29%	–
Second	1957	494	27 / 109	11	10,754,075	8.92%	5.63%
Third	1962	494	29 / 137	02	11,450,037	9.94%	1.02%
Fourth	1967	520	23 / 109	06	7,458,396	5.11%	4.83%
Fifth	1971	518	23 / 87	00	6,933,627	4.73%	0.38%
Sixth	1977	542	7 / 91	16	5,322,088	2.82%	1.91%
Seventh	1980	529 ( 542* )	10 / 47	03	4,927,342	2.49%	0.33%
Eighth	1984	541	6 / 66	04	6,733,117	2.70%	0.21%
Ninth	1989	529	12 / 50	06	7,734,697	2.57%	0.13%
Tenth	1991	534	14 / 43	02	6,898,340	2.48%	0.09%
Eleventh	1996	543	12 / 43	02	6,582,263	1.97%	0.51%
Twelfth	1998	543	09 / 58	03	6,429,569	1.75%	0.22%
Thirteenth	1999	543	04 / 54	05	5,395,119	1.48%	0.27%
Fourteenth	2004	543	10 / 34	06	5,484,111	1.41%	0.07%
Fifteenth	2009	543	04 / 56	06	5,951,888	1.43%	0.02%
Sixteenth	2014	543	1 / 67	03	4,327,298	0.78%	0.65%
Seventeenth	2019	543	2 / 49	01	3,576,184	0.58%	0.2%

^* : 12 seats in Assam and 1 in Meghalaya did not vote.

State	No. of candidates 2019	No. of elected 2019	No. of candidates 2014	No. of elected 2014	No. of candidates 2009	No. of elected 2009	Total no. of seats in the state
Andhra Pradesh	2	0	1	0	2	0	(25)(2014)/42(2009)
Arunachal Pradesh	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Assam	2	0	1	0	3	0	14
Bihar	2	0	2	0	7	0	40
Chhattisgarh	1	0	2	0	1	0	11
Goa	0	0	2	0	2	0	2
Gujarat	1	0	1	0	1	0	26
Haryana	1	0	2	0	1	0	10
Himachal Pradesh	0	0	0	0	0	0	4
Jammu and Kashmir	0	0	0	0	1	0	6
Jharkhand	3	0	3	0	3	0	14
Karnataka	1	0	3	0	1	0	28
Kerala	4	0	4	1	4	0	20
Madhya Pradesh	4	0	5	0	3	0	29
Maharashtra	2	0	4	0	3	0	48
Manipur	1	0	1	0	1	0	2
Meghalaya	0	0	1	0	1	0	2
Mizoram	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Nagaland	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Odisha	1	0	4	0	1	1	21
Punjab	2	0	5	0	2	0	13
Rajasthan	3	0	3	0	2	0	25
Sikkim	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Tamil Nadu	2	2	8	0	3	1	39
Tripura	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Telangana	2	0					17
Uttar Pradesh	12	0	8	0	9	0	80
Uttarakhand	0	0	1	0	1	0	5
West Bengal	3	0	3	0	3	2	42
Union Territories:
Andaman and Nicobar Islands	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Chandigarh	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Dadra and Nagar Haveli	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Daman and Diu	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
Delhi	0	0	1	0	1	0	7
Lakshadweep	1[93]	0	1	0	0	0	1
Puducherry	0	0	1	0	0	0	1
Total:	50	2	67	1	56	4	543

^{[91][92] [94] [95]}

State Legislative assembly results

Year	State	Total assembly seats	Seats won / Seats contested	Change in seats	Votes	Vote %	Change in vote %
2021	Assam	126	0 / 1		27,290	0.84%	0.14%
	Kerala	140	17 / 23	2	1,579,235	7.58%	0.54%
	Puducherry	30	0 / 1		7,522	0.90%	0.2%
	Tamil Nadu	234	2 / 6	2	504,537	1.09%	0.3%
	West Bengal	294	0 / 10	1	118,655	0.20%	1.25%
2020	Bihar	243	2 / 6	2	349,489	0.83%	0.57%
2019	Andhra Pradesh	175	0 / 7		34,746	0.11%	N/A
	Jharkhand	81	0 / 18		68,589	0.46%	0.43%
	Maharashtra	288	0 / 16		35,188	0.06%	0.07%
	Odisha	147	0 / 3		29,235	0.12%	0.39%
2018	Chhattisgarh	90	0 / 7		48,255	0.34%	0.32%
	Rajasthan	200	0 / 16		42,820	0.12%	0.06%
	Telangana	119	0 / 3	1	83,215	0.40%	N/A
	Tripura	60	0 / 1	1	19,352	0.82%	0.85%
2017	Himachal Pradesh	68	0 / 3		1,686	0.04%	0.15%
	Uttar Pradesh	403	0 / 68		138,764	0.16%	0.03%

• N/A indicates Not Available
•   indicates in government or in Coalition government

State	No. of candidates	No. elected	Total no. of seats in Assembly	Year of Election
Andhra Pradesh	7	0	175	2019
Assam	1	0	126	2021
Bihar	6	2	243	2020
Chhattisgarh	2	0	90	2018
Delhi	3	0	70	2020
Goa	2	0	40	2017
Gujarat	2	0	182	2017
Haryana	4	0	90	2019
Himachal Pradesh	3	0	68	2017[96]
Jammu and Kashmir	3	0	87	2014
Jharkhand	16	0	81	2019
Karnataka	4	0	224	2018
Kerala	23	17	140	2021
Madhya Pradesh	18	0	230	2018
Maharashtra	16	0	288	2019
Manipur	6	0	60	2017
Meghalaya	1	0	60	2013
Mizoram	0	0	40	2013
Odisha	12	0	147	2019
Puducherry	1	0	30	2021
Punjab	23	0	117	2017
Rajasthan	42	0	200	2018
Telangana	3	0	119	2018
Tamil Nadu	6	2	234	2021
Tripura	1	0	60	2018
Uttar Pradesh	68	0	403	2017
Uttarakhand	4	0	70	2017
West Bengal	10	0	294	2021

Results from the Election Commission of India website. Results do not deal with partitions of states (Bihar was bifurcated after the 2000 election, creating Jharkhand), defections and by-elections during the mandate period.