It was the Communist Party of India which went into this election with the fear of losing national party status but now it has in its desolate corner big brother, CPI (Marxist).

With just nine seats in its kitty from three States, the CPI(M) is two short of the criteria that has afforded it national party status for years now. One of the various benchmarks set by the Election Commission for according national party status to a political party is 11 seats in the Lok Sabha from at least three States.

Now, the CPI(M) is hoping to use the two Independents — who contested the elections in Kerala as part of the Left Democratic Front — to build a case for retaining the national party status. “When we are issued a show-cause by the Election Commission on why the national party status should not be withdrawn from the CPI(M), we plan to state that these two Independents will be joining the parliamentary party; taking our strength in the Lok Sabha to the required 11,” said a Polit Bureau member, while conceding it is a long shot.

The near decimation of the Left comes at a time when the Left in general and the CPI(M) in particular is extremely demoralised and still nursing the body blows delivered by the Trinamool Congress in successive elections from 2008.

What has been particularly disappointing is that the Left had hoped to make some gains in West Bengal this time round when the field had opened from a direct fight with the TMC to a multi-cornered battle, with the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as a strong contender in the State, courtesy the Modi factor.

Not only has the TMC managed to further push the Left out, ironically the two seats that the CPI(M) won in West Bengal — Murshidabad and Raiganj — were both from traditional Congress strongholds. Even veteran Basudeb Acharia — who had withstood the 2009 onslaught of the TMC which was then in coalition with the Congress — has been defeated this time in Bankura.

Needless to say, the CPI(M) insists that the verdict does not reflect the state of the Left in West Bengal as the verdict was “distorted” by “widespread rigging, violence and intimidation” targeting the Left Front. “The Election Commission failed to intervene to rectify the situation from the third to the fifth round of polling in West Bengal,” the CPI(M) Polit Bureau said in a statement.

While the party has retained its hold over Tripura, the CPI(M) bettered its performance in Kerala by a seat; holding on to existing seats. Though the party had drawn flak for fielding nearly half-a-dozen independent candidates to reach out to the Christian community of Kerala, this strategy has borne fruit with two of them winning.