Thiruvananthapuram, June 5 (IANS): With the CPI-M getting routed in the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala for the second successive time, it faces a challenge to its national party status and the Election Commission will decide on its continuation.

While Kerala is considered a bastion of the party, the CPI-M only managed to win just one seat in the state. With this, the total number of seats that it got in the country reached four - just one more than in 2019 - causing concern to the top leadership. It won two seats in Tamil Nadu and one in Rajasthan.

In Kerala, the CPI-M had contested 15 seats, the CPI four, and the Kerala Congress-Mani one. Barring the one seat that the CPI-M won, it was a total washout for the ruling Left Democratic Front.

To have the tag of a national party, the CPI-M has to satisfy one of the three conditions - winning two per cent of seats (11 seats) in the Lok Sabha from at least three different states, getting six per cent votes in a Lok Sabha or Assembly election in four or more states and winning four Lok Sabha seats, or the party gets recognition as a state party in four states.

The CPI-M, which ruled West Bengal for 34 years, ended up with a vote share of a mere 5.67 per cent and no seats in the state.

Now all eyes are on the ECI when it takes a call on classifying which parties will retain the national party status. At present, there are six, including the CPI-M, carrying the tag of a national party.

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