Rahul Rajiv Gandhi is an Indian politician. A member of the Indian National Congress (INC), he is currently serving as the 12th Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and as the member of the Lok Sabha for Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, since June 2024. He previously represented the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala, from 2019 to 2024, and Amethi, Uttar Pradesh, from 2004 to 2019. Gandhi served as the party president of the Indian National Congress from December 2017 to July 2019 and is the chairperson of the Indian Youth Congress, the National Students Union of India, and a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation and Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust. He is a member of the Nehru–Gandhi political family.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electoral seats, and one of the national parties of India. The party was founded through a splitting from the Communist Party of India in 1964 and it quickly became the dominant faction.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest communist party in India. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur on 26 December 1925.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation is a communist political party in India. The party is represented in Bihar and Jharkhand Legislative Assemblies. Since 2023, the party is also a member of the INDIA electoral alliance. In Bihar, the party has significant base amongst the Extremely Backward Castes and the Schedule Castes. It was successful in mobilising Upper Backward Caste groups such as Koeris in some districts of central Bihar, prior to the rise of Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party faced existential crisis when a large section of its Koeri and Yadav support base defected to Rashtriya Janata Dal in 1990s. However, the ideological commitment of its cadre protected it from disintegration. It staged a comeback in politics after winning twelve seats in Bihar Legislative Assembly in 2020 and by sending two of its members to Lok Sabha in 2024 Indian general elections.
The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a banned Maoist communist political party and militant organization in India which aims to overthrow the "semi-colonial and semi-feudal Indian state" through protracted people's war. It was founded on 21 September 2004, through the merger of the CPIML People's War and the MCCI. The party has been designated as a terrorist organisation in India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act since 2009.
Manik Sarkar is an Indian communist politician who served as the Chief Minister of Tripura from March 1998 to March 2018. He is a Politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). In March 2008, he was sworn in as leader of Left Front, the Tripura coalition government. In assembly elections held in 2013, he became the chief minister for the fourth consecutive time. He served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Tripura Legislative Assembly from 2018 to 2023. NDTV's article in 2018, proclaimed that back then, he was the poorest chief minister in India with bank balance of Rs. 2000.
Sitaram Yechury was an Indian Marxist politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who was a member of the Politburo of the CPI(M) since 1992. Previously, he was a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, West Bengal, from 2005 to 2017.
Mohammed Salim is an Indian politician, who is the incumbent State Secretary in West Bengal of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was inducted in the politburo of CPI(M) in the 21st party congress organised at Visakhapatnam in 2015. He was a Member of the 16th Lok Sabha, representing Raiganj constituency. Earlier, he was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha, representing the Calcutta North East constituency of West Bengal. After delimitation, in the 2009 Lok Sabha election Salim contested the new Calcutta North constituency, and lost to Sudip Bandyopadhyay of the Trinamool Congress. Mohammed Salim is contesting the 2024 Indian general election as the Left Front candidate from the Murshidabad.
Gurudas Dasgupta was an Indian politician and a leader of the Communist Party of India. In the 1950s and 60s, he held several offices as a student leader. Later he was a member of Rajya Sabha for three terms from 1985 to 2000 and of Lok Sabha for two terms from 2004 to 2014.
Binoy Viswam is an Indian politician who was a Member of Parliament from Kerala representing the Communist Party of India (CPI) and was its Parliamentary Party leader. A member of the CPI National Secretariat, he is currently the State Secretary of CPI Kerala State Committee, the Editor of New Age Weekly - the central organ of CPI and the Working President of the All India Trade Union Congress. He served as the Minister for Forests & Housing in the Government of Kerala during 2006–2011. He was earlier elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly from Nadapuram constituency and served as Member, Estimates Committee; Chairman, Assurance Committee; and was one of the five members of the Constituency Delimitation Committee. He is a senior Communist Party of India (CPI) leader and the president of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation Employees' Federation.
Muppala Lakshmana Rao, commonly known by his nom de guerre Ganapathy or Ganapathi, is the leader of the Indian Maoist movement and former General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), a banned Maoist insurgent communist party in India. He resigned from the post in November 2018.
Communism in India has existed as a social or political ideology as well as a political movement since at least as early as the 1920s. In its early years, communist ideology was harshly suppressed through legal prohibitions and criminal prosecutions. Eventually, communist parties became ensconced in national party politics, sprouting several political offshoots.
Biman Bose is an Indian politician who was once state Secretary of the West Bengal Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was later succeeded by his trusted aide, Surya Kanta Mishra, although he remained a Politburo member of the party. He is also Chairman of the Left Front committee of West Bengal.
David Pandian was an Indian Tamil politician who served as Member of Parliament elected from Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Lok Sabha as an Indian National Congress–United Communist Party of India (UCPI) candidate from North Chennai constituency in 1989 and 1991 elections. He was the Tamil Nadu State Secretary of the Communist Party of India for three consecutive terms from 2005 to 2015, when he was succeeded by R. Mutharasan.
K. Radhakrishnan is an Indian politician who is the CPI(M) Parliamentary Party Leader in 18th Lok Sabha and Member of the Lok Sabha for Alathur since 2024. A veteran leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Radhakrishnan previously served as a State Minister of Kerala from 2021 to 2024, and from 1996 to 2001.
Doraisamy Raja is an Indian politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) since July 2019. He was former member of Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu. He was the national secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) from 1994 to 2019.
The 2014 Indian general elections for Tamil Nadu's 39 seats in the 16th Lok Sabha were held on 24 April 2014. The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam led by its general secretary J. Jayalalithaa won a spectacular victory, taking 37 of the 39 seats. The total electors in the state of Tamil Nadu for the election was 55,114,867 and 73.74% of voters exercised their right to do so. The results of the elections were declared on 16 May 2014.
Kunnummal Surendran is an Indian politician from the state of Kerala. He currently serves as the 11th President of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state.
The 2018 Tripura Legislative Assembly election was held on 18 February for 59 of the state's 60 constituencies. The counting of votes took place on 3 March 2018. With 43.59% of the vote, the BJP secured a majority of seats (36) and subsequently formed the government with Biplab Kumar Deb as Chief Minister. The former governing Left Front alliance while receiving 44.35% of the vote secured only 16 seats.
Aparajitha Raja is an Indian politician who was the national leader of the All India Students’ Federation (AISF). She is currently serving as a National Council member of All India Youth Federation. She is the daughter of D. Raja, the Communist Party of India’s (CPI) General Secretary, and Annie Raja, the General Secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women.
