The Communist Party of India (abbreviated as CPI) is a political party in India. Since independence, CPI has participated in elections.
The CPI had presented 108 candidates in the 1946 Indian provincial elections, out of whom 8 were elected. [1] The meagre result was related to the decision of the party not to support the Quit India movement of 1942. [2] Seven out of the eight seats it won were reserved for labour representatives. All in all, the Communist Party obtained 2.5% of the popular vote. Albeit far from competing with the two main parties (Indian National Congress and All India Muslim League), the communists became the third force in terms of the popular vote. [1] Amongst the communist candidates elected were Jyoti Basu (railways constituency in Bengal), Ratanlal Brahmin (Darjeeling) and Rupnarayan Ray (Dinajpur). [3]
Year | Legislature | Total Lok Sabha constituencies | Seats won / Seats Contested | Change in seats | Total Votes | Percentage of votes | Change in vote % | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1951–52 | 1st Lok Sabha | 489 | 16 / 49 | New | 3,487,401 | 3.29% | New | [4] |
1957 | 2nd Lok Sabha | 494 | 27 / 110 | ![]() | 10,754,075 | 8.92% | ![]() | [5] |
1962 | 3rd Lok Sabha | 494 | 29 / 137 | ![]() | 11,450,037 | 9.94% | ![]() | [6] |
1967 | 4th Lok Sabha | 520 | 23 / 109 | ![]() | 7,458,396 | 5.11% | ![]() | [7] |
1971 | 5th Lok Sabha | 518 | 23 / 87 | ![]() | 6,933,627 | 4.73% | ![]() | [8] |
1977 | 6th Lok Sabha | 542 | 7 / 91 | ![]() | 5,322,088 | 2.82% | ![]() | [9] |
1980 | 7th Lok Sabha | 529(542*) | 10 / 47 | ![]() | 4,927,342 | 2.49% | ![]() | [10] |
1984 | 8th Lok Sabha | 541 | 6 / 61 | ![]() | 6,363,430 | 2.71% | ![]() | [11] [12] |
1989 | 9th Lok Sabha | 529 | 12 / 50 | ![]() | 7,734,697 | 2.57% | ![]() | [13] |
1991 | 10th Lok Sabha | 534 | 14 / 42 | ![]() | 6,851,114 | 2.49% | ![]() | [14] [15] |
1996 | 11th Lok Sabha | 543 | 12 / 43 | ![]() | 6,582,263 | 1.97% | ![]() | [16] |
1998 | 12th Lok Sabha | 543 | 9 / 58 | ![]() | 6,429,569 | 1.75% | ![]() | [17] |
1999 | 13th Lok Sabha | 543 | 4 / 54 | ![]() | 5,395,119 | 1.48% | ![]() | [18] |
2004 | 14th Lok Sabha | 543 | 10 / 34 | ![]() | 5,484,111 | 1.41% | ![]() | [19] |
2009 | 15th Lok Sabha | 543 | 4 / 56 | ![]() | 5,951,888 | 1.43% | ![]() | [20] |
2014 | 16th Lok Sabha | 543 | 1 / 67 | ![]() | 4,327,460 | 0.79% | ![]() | [21] |
2019 | 17th Lok Sabha | 543 | 2 / 49 | ![]() | 3,576,184 | 0.59% | ![]() | [22] |
2024 | 18th Lok Sabha | 543 | 2 / 30 | ![]() | 3,132,683 | 0.49% | ![]() | [23] |
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