CPI-M politburo to meet May 18 to finalise strategies

Agartala: The CPI-M politburo will meet in Delhi May 18 to discuss the outcome of the Lok Sabha election results and to finalise the party`s strategies, party sources said here Tuesday.

The 15-member politburo is the highest policy making body of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M). "To decide the CPI-M`s next course of action in view of the Lok Sabha election results, the politburo may decide to convene a meeting of the party`s central committee. The committee has 93 members," a CPI-M leader told IANS. In this election, the CPI-M put up 98 candidates, including 11 women and five Independents, in 23 states. In the 2009 general election, the CPI-M won 16 seats down from 44 seats which it held in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. Before the Left parties` debacle in West Bengal assembly polls in 2011, the Left strength in the Lok Sabha plunged to 24 seats in 2009.