The Last Comrade Falls: For The First Time In 50 Years, India To Have No Left CM
The 2026 Assembly election results has ushered a historic change in the political landscape of India. For the first time in 50 years, India is set to be without a Left Chief Minister in any of the states.
New Delhi: The 2026 Assembly election results has ushered a historic change in the political landscape of India. For the first time in 50 years, India is set to be without a Left Chief Minister in any of the states.
The development comes as the Left Democratic Front (LDF) failed to emerge victorious in Kerala. Its defeat in Kerala is also historic since it had been ruling over the state for as long as 10 years, with Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Pinarayi Vijayan holding the Chief Minister's post since 2016.
Now Kerala is set to have a government of Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), which has made a comeback in the state after 10 years.
Pinarayi Vijayan was the only Left Chief Minister in India since 2018. Communist forces in India suffered a blow when Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Manik Sarkar's government fell in Tripura in 2018.
Tripura had a Left government from 1977 to 1983, with CPI (M) leader Nripen Chakraborty as the Chief Minister. CPI (M) briefly lost power to Congress, before retaining the state again in 1993, with Dasarath Deb as the Chief Minister. Following his tenure, Manik Sarkar ruled from 1998. His government fell in 2018, ushering in the rule of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tripura under Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb.
West Bengal, which was once considered the stronghold of the Communist force, lost the Left government in 2011 as Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) clinched victory in the state by toppling Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. Notably, CPI (M) had been ruling over West Bengal since 1977, with Jyoti Basu as the Chief Minister from 1977 to 1996.
From 2011, TMC retained power in the state for 15 years till today. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now toppled the Mamata government and is set to place a BJP CM in West Bengal for the first time in history.
Published By : Nidhi Sinha
Published On: 4 May 2026 at 19:59 IST