Resolutions from the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
- The Left Chapter
- 13 hours ago
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The March 3 & 4 sessions of the CPI(M) Congress in Madurai dealt with issues including Kerala, Gaza, delimitation, national elections, and the national census.
Resolutions from the March 3 and 4 sessions of the 24th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Five resolutions were introduced on 3rd April and adopted (the full text of the resolutions are below).
The Resolution expressing support to the LDF government in Kerala was moved by Mohd Salim, Member of the Polit Bureau and secretary of the West Bengal state committee. It was seconded by Jitendra Choudhury, member of the Central Committee and secretary of the Tripura state committee.
The Resolution on Delimitation was introduced by G Ramakrishnan, Member of the Polit Bureau and was seconded by Sanjay Chauhan, secretary of Himachal Pradesh state committee.
The Resolution for Independent, Fair and Level Playing Field in Elections was introduced by Nilotpal Basu, Member of the Polit Bureau and seconded by V Srinivasa Rao, central committee member and secretary of Andhra Pradesh state committee.
The Resolution demanding immediate conduct of general census and also caste census was introduced by Awadesh Kumar, central committee member and seconded by T Jyoti.
The Resolution opposing 'One Nation - One Election' was introduced by Ashok Dhawale, Member of the Polit Bureau and seconded by Amra Ram, central committee member and Member of the Parliament, Lok Sabha.
All the Resolutions were unanimously adopted by the Congress.
Today, a special Resolution in solidarity with Palestine and condemning the Israeli genocidal attack on Gaza was introduced by MA Baby, Member, Polit Bureau and seconded by G Ramakrishnan, Member, Polit Bureau. It was adopted unanimously with the entire delegates standing and shouting slogans condemning Israel and US and demanding a free Palestine.
The 24th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) reiterates the distinctive feature of the Left Democratic Front (LDF)-led state government of Kerala, of being opposed to the Hindutva ideology and upholding secularism, and at the same time providing an alternative to the neoliberal policies of the Union government. Not surprisingly, the BJP-NDA government at the Centre has virtually imposed a fiscal blockade against the State.
Unfortunately, the Congress opposition has also joined these destabilization maneuvers. The 24th Congress of the CPI(M) appeals to all democratic sections of the people to rally to defend the LDF Government of Kerala.
The alternative development policies pursued by successive Left Governments in Kerala have focused on strategy of redistribution for inclusive growth.
Land reforms have been implemented. Trade unions and minimum wage laws have ensured the highest wages. Government policies have ensured universal education, health care and social security. Absolute poverty will be eradicated in 2025-26. Kerala has ensured a decent and better life for its ordinary citizens.
Kerala leads India in social and welfare achievements and its GDP growth during the past three decades is higher than the country's growth. Currently it is trying to address the challenge of educated unemployment. It would require a transformation of the technological base of the economy into one based on advanced scientific knowledge and high productivity. To achieve it, Kerala`s knowledge and skill intensive industries must become an attractive investment destination. A new generation of start-up enterprises must mushroom. Kerala should become a knowledge economy.
The state is taking major strides under the present LDF government to overcome the key impediments to such a transformation through the following initiatives: (a) Making Kerala an attractive investment destination, (b) Overcoming the infrastructure deficit through extra budgetary resource mobilization by special SPVs, (c) Revamping the higher education sector, and (d) Launching Knowledge Kerala People's Campaign to skill the students and the unemployed.
The above paradigm shift does not imply that the state would move away from its redistributive strategy of development. The public sector units, public education and public health will be strengthened. There will be no abridgement of democratic rights or labour rights. Democratic decentralization and participation will continue to characterize our interventions in the social and small-scale sectors. The fight against all forms of caste and gender discrimination and for secular and scientific values will continue.
It is precisely such an outcome that the BJP-NDA regime at the Centre wants to prevent. Besides deploying the agency of Governor for administrative manipulations and undermining the legislative power of the state by withholding assent to bills, the Union government is systematically squeezing the fiscal space of the state government.
The Finance Commission's share of tax devolution to Kerala has declined from 3.9 per cent during the 10th UFC period to 1.9 per cent during the current 15th UFC. The state's share of the centrally sponsored schemes is only 1.6 per cent. Its share in the CAPEX is only 1.1 per cent. It has received virtually nothing from the special packages announced for different states.
In 2024-25 the Union government`s total transfer to all the state governments in India was Rs 25 lakh crore. With 2.8 per cent of the population share, proportionately Kerala should have received Rs 70,000 crore. Actually, the transfers to the states were only Rs 35,000 crore, only half of what was its due.
The Union government has also arbitrarily reduced the normal borrowing of the state government on the pretext that the capital borrowing made by KIIFB, a SPV similar to the National Highway Authority of India, is equivalent to indirect borrowing by the state. Worse, the central government decided to give retrospective effect to its new rule on extra budgetary borrowing by the state. As a result, during the past three years more than Rs 10,000 crore have been reduced from the state's market loans. All this has pushed the state government's finances into a crisis.
To cover up its discrimination, the Union government and its followers are conducting completely false, baseless and malicious propaganda against the state government.
The 24th Congress of the CPI(M) calls on all its units, members, sympathizers and all other sections of the democratic people to expose the Centre, spread the democratic achievements of Kerala, and rally in strength to defend the LDF government in Kerala.
The 24th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) firmly opposes any delimitation process that diminishes or reduces the proportional share of representation of any state in Parliament. The Congress urges the Central Government to engage in extensive consultations with political parties and state governments to build a broad consensus on this crucial issue.
With the freeze on the number of seats in Parliament and legislative assemblies set to end next year, a fresh round of delimitation will be required following the first census conducted after 2026. The 42nd Constitutional Amendment, enacted during the Emergency in 1976, initially froze seat allocations to promote population control measures. This freeze was later extended until 2026 by the Vajpayee government.
Historically, delimitation exercises were conducted in 1952, 1963, and 1973.
However, following the 1976 freeze, subsequent adjustments were postponed to address concerns over population-based redistribution. Despite the 2001 Census, the freeze remained in place due to strong opposition from southern states, which feared an unfair reduction in their representation.
As the freeze is set to expire, a new delimitation process could significantly reshape political representation, disproportionately affecting states such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Odisha, West Bengal, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Many of these states, which have successfully implemented population control measures, risk losing representation, while states with higher population growth rates may gain an undue advantage. Even if the overall number of seats is increased, a purely population-based approach would still result in disproportionate allocations favouring states like Uttar Pradesh.
The 24th Congress of the CPI(M) is committed to an equitable and just federal framework that respects the rights of all states while maintaining national unity and cohesion, and resolves that:
Any delimitation framework must prevent the disproportionate advantage to any particular region or state, and the interests of states that have successfully controlled population growth must be protected.
A pro-rata seat increase should be adopted to expand parliamentary representation while maintaining the existing proportional seat distribution among states, ensuring fair and balanced representation.
The proportion of SC/ST seats, at present, in different states must be protected.
The Government of India must conduct comprehensive consultations with all states to ensure that the delimitation process upholds the principles of equity, federalism, secularism and national unity.
In the absence of a broad consensus on the delimitation process, the freeze on seat allocation should be extended further to safeguard federal integrity.
The 24th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses grave concern and anguish over the opaque and unconstitutional manner in which elections have been conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the past decade. The erosion of autonomy, contempt shown for the political opposition, and utter brazenness with which election laws, rules and manuals have been manipulated have turned India's election process, always loaded in favour of parties with money power, into a complete farce.
The present BJP regime, in flagrant violation of the Supreme Court's express directive in November 2023 to ensure independence in appointment of the Election Commissioners, hastily enacted a law changing the selection process by excluding the Chief Justice of India, with two of the three members of the selection committee being members of the ruling cabinet.
The ECI has lost the confidence of a fair section of the Indian people. In April 2024, a survey conducted by the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) revealed, shockingly, that only 28 per cent of Indians today retained any trust or confidence in the ECI.
The manner and extent to which India's election system has been eroded is complex and involves manipulations at multiple levels. These issues have been addressed rigorously by several experts and citizens groups. They essentially involve the utterly non-transparent manner of the functioning of the ECI when it comes to: a) Non-release of Voter Data including Voter lists past and present, b) Non-release of 17-C and 17-A forms, Video Recordings and Index Cards, mandated under Election Law and ECI Manuals; c) Manipulation of Voter Lists through spurious additions and deletions. A significant question regarding the ECI's conduct pertains to the credibility of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the ECI's supervision of the electoral process.
A major breach of bipartisan conduct in elections was first evident in violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) and the Representation of People's Act in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the 2017 state elections of Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, and most sharply during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Several complaints against prominent campaigners of the ruling party, including the Prime Minister, Home Minister, UP Chief Minister and others for making openly communal appeals and violating the MCC were made only to be ignored, exposing the ECI's clearly partisan approach. The ECI failed to take action against the blatant use of government resources to further the partisan interests of the BJP. Today, even the most basic constitutional rights of the political opposition are being brazenly snatched away with even Voters lists with and without the latest revisions, being denied to political contestants and citizens. Most recently, the issue of duplicate EPIC cards has also surfaced.
Soon after the 2024 Parliamentary elections, citizens' groups published a substantiated report (Vote for Democracy - VFD) presenting data that suggested that in at least 79 Lok Sabha constituencies across the country the "people's mandate" had not been reflected in the results: significantly, the total hike in absolute number of votes cumulatively for all the phases between the turnout figures reported at 7-8 PM and final turnout figures extrapolated from the available figures of the Percentage of Polled Votes, supplied by the ECI, was close to 5 crore votes, or 4,65,46,885 to be precise. Detailed state-wise mathematical and statistical calculations by experts say that it is likely that these spurious votes benefited the NDA/BJP coalition in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in around 79 seats, determining who/which dispensation came to power. The ECI has refused to give any reasons for this unexplained hike in votes.
On the other hand, the overall indication from some rigorous constituency-wise surveys is that areas with a higher share of voters from religious and caste groups who were less likely to vote for the BJP saw disproportionate deletions. Additionally, the inclusion of new voters needs further and comprehensive scrutiny to identify bogus voters.
Independent studies into the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha Elections 2024 reveal a shocking increase in Voter 'Registration' in the seven months between the Lok Sabha polls in April 2024 and the Vidhan Sabha polls in November 2024, which was a staggering 40,81,229. This makes the average monthly registration per month on an average (April 2024-November 2024) at 5,83,032; as against this, the average voter registration per month in the five-year period between 2019-2024 has been only 71,116, and in the previous five years from 2014-2019 only 1,31,302. This substantiates claims that these additions were done with an intent to bolster the ruling BJP-led combine's votes. To date, despite several demands, documentation of these additions has not been provided.
In addition, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Assam have seen the questionable and partisan behaviour of Returning Officers (ROs) conducting polls, with documented complaints having come in from 56 constituencies.
Worse still has been the use of the state police machinery to prevent voters from marginalized sections exercising their franchise.
Yet another serious feature was the public display of a brazen corporate-BJP nexus through the unconstitutional electoral bonds scheme introduced in 2017, and finally struck down by the Supreme Court of India in early 2024.
Though the ruling BJP received an overwhelming share of the funds-approximately Rs 8,500 crore-through electoral bonds over five years, creating an uneven playing field, the party has not been compelled to either return this money acquired in an illegitimate way, nor made to explain its expenditure. We also recall our Party's significant role in challenging the electoral bonds in the apex court.
The latest move by the ECI, to link the EPIC Card with the Aadhaar card also needs to be rigorously opposed, since it in effect places control of the election process - additions and deletions of voters - squarely in the hands of the UIDAI, controlled by the Union Government. Besides, while the EPIC card is proof of citizenship, AADHAAR is merely a location of identity.
All these disturbing developments require that we commit the Party to a mass people's movement to demand accountability from the ECI and a return to transparency during polls. Accountability of the ECI must be ensured, and all data must be consistently and transparently made available to the political opposition and to all Indian citizens.
The 24th Congress of the CPI(M) therefore urgently resolves to intensify efforts to ensure that malpractices in the electoral system are exposed, and every Indian voter is encouraged to cast her/his vote, without fear or favour. We commit ourselves to the campaign to ensure the independent and transparent functioning of the ECI and to restore a level playing field in elections. This is an essential and non-negotiable prerequisite for protecting political democracy in the country.
The 24th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), expresses grave concern that the decadal census, which was due in 2021, has not been held so far. The Centre has also not extended the deadline of June 2024 to freeze administrative boundaries which are necessary to conduct the census as per the administrative boundaries like districts, taluk, block or village levels.
The 2021 census, which should have begun in 2020, is indefinitely delayed.
The government had then stated that the census operations can be conducted only after Covid, but even after four years, there are no signs of the census being held. The data provided by the census enables policy planners and administrators to design policies which cater to different sections of people.
From the time of British rule, census has been conducted every ten years without fail. Even in 1941, during the Second World War, census was held on a truncated basis. Census provides not only a population count, but also comprehensive data which includes household data, cultivating classes and agricultural workers in the rural areas. It also provides a picture of the urban-rural population, linguistic-speaking groups and data about Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Apart from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who are enumerated in the general census, there is no data on the Other Backward Classes. It is necessary to have an accurate count of the various categories of Other Backward Classes. Hence, the 24th Congress of the CPI(M) supports the demand for a caste census.
A caste census will help in understanding the link between caste and socio-economic, educational development, assess the impact of ruling class policies and reservations for the welfare of the backward classes. The reality of SC, ST and certain OBC caste groups who are still denied access to resources and opportunities will come out through the caste census. The bankrupt policies of the ruling classes and their failure in realising social justice will be exposed.
By not conducting the census, the one-third reservation for women in parliament and state legislatures provided for by the constitutional amendment has been pushed to a distant future (at least not in 2029).
The government is showing no inclination to conduct a census because of its general contempt for statistical surveys conducted on a scientific basis.
Various surveys have either been suppressed or the statistical parameters for the survey altered to distort it. The census has become a victim of the anti-scientific outlook of the BJP and the Hindutva forces. The data collected in a caste census will expose the inequalities in the caste system and puncture the Sangh Parivar's claims of an over-arching religious identity.
To ensure that policy making is driven by scientific data and to ensure justice for all oppressed sections in society, it is imperative to demand that the much-delayed 2021 census, along with caste census be held immediately.
The 24th Congress of the CPI(M) demands that the Union government immediately conduct the general census and along with it a caste census. It appeals to all the democratic sections in the country to support and press this demand.
The 24th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) strongly opposes the `One Nation, One Election' drive of the RSS-BJP, which wants to create a centralized unitarian State. It is an extension of their slogan of 'One Nation, One Religion, One Language, One Culture, One Leader'. They have lifted and modified this slogan from Hitler's fascist era.
BJP leaders are using their hackneyed arguments that simultaneous elections will save a lot of money, and they will prevent the frequent disruption of developmental work. For the 2024 parliamentary elections, the total allocation made by Parliament to the Election Commission of India (ECI) was Rs 466 crore. Some more amount is spent by the States for logistical requirements. But all this is not a very huge amount. For other years the expense is much less. As regards development, periodic and frequent elections have been held in India since 1967 till today. There is no evidence to prove that they have stopped the developmental momentum.
The `One Nation, One Election' (ONOE) model undermines two basic features of the Constitution - democracy and federalism. The Supreme Court decision in the Kesavananda Bharati case, says that Parliament does not have the power to alter the basic structure of the Constitution. And yet prime minister Narendra Modi has pushed this idea ever since he came to power, declaring in 2020 that ONOE "is not a matter of debate but a necessity for India".
Actually, the ONOE proposal amounts to truncating the life of some legislative assemblies to align them with the Lok Sabha election. Further, if a state government falls and the assembly is to be dissolved, then the mid-term election held will be only for the remaining term of the assembly.
All this violates the right of the people to elect their representatives for a term of five years as envisaged in the Constitution.
The attack on federalism is all the more evident with the move to hold simultaneous election to all panchayats and municipal bodies. This is centralization with a vengeance and goes against the very purpose of decentralized decision-making local bodies under the state governments.
To hold the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections together would require a major overhaul of the Constitution. There will have to be amendments to the Constitution in Article 83 (duration of House), Article 85 (dissolution of the Lok Sabha), Article 172 (duration of state legislatures), Article 174 (dissolution of state legislatures), Article 356 (failure of Constitutional machinery), apart from amendments to the Representation of the People Act and other Rules.
The 24th Congress of the CPI(M) is totally opposed to any artificial attempt to bring about simultaneous elections, and it strongly opposes any move to amend the Constitution for this purpose. All political parties and organisations who value democracy, pluralism and federalism, should come out firmly in opposition and unitedly thwart this pernicious move. The CPI(M) calls upon the people of India to oppose this anti-democratic and anti-federal drive.
The 24th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) condemns Israel's genocidal attack on Gaza and demands an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Israel launched a genocidal war on Gaza, Palestine after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack. More than 50,021 Palestinians have been killed and thousands more injured in this barbaric onslaught.
Israel restarted its attacks on Gaza immediately after the completion of the first phase of ceasefire. Since then, it has cut the supply of food, water, fuel, aid and all other essentials to Gaza. Israel intends to strangulate and push Gaza towards starvation. It carried out attacks on hospitals, aid convoys, UN refugee shelters, schools, masjids and churches, leaving no space safe in Gaza. 60 per cent of the people killed in Israel's attacks are women and children. Journalists and UN aid workers were also targeted and killed. Crops were destroyed. All these attacks demonstrate the genocidal character of the Israeli State. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) taking cognisance of it, issued arrest warrants on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders.
Israel is actively encouraging Zionist settlers to occupy Palestinian land in the West Bank and establish Jewish settlements. In this manner, it is slowly annexing Palestinian territory in the West Bank. All these acts are intended to drive away Palestinians from their homeland and completely annex Palestine, as a part of realising its agenda of establishing Greater Israel.
The United States and other imperialist countries in Western Europe are actively supporting Israel in its attack on Palestine by arming and standing by it in international forums. Trump's announcement of his condemnable plans for converting Gaza into a tourist paradise by pushing out all Palestinians living there, suits Israel's interests.
The BJP central government watered down the long-held official position of India on Palestine. Instead of resolutely standing with the people of Palestine and demanding action on Israel, the BJP government is now siding with Israel. As a result, for the first time, India voted against or abstained on UN resolutions demanding a ceasefire and condemning Israel.
Such positions dented India's credibility among the developing countries and it is now seen as an ally of Israel and the US.
In order to defend its positions, the BJP, along with the Sangh Parivar is projecting the Israeli attack on Gaza as a religious war. The RSS shares close ideological bonds with the Zionists in identifying nationality with religion and their hatred towards Muslims. It is this ideological affinity that is behind the BJP government's support to Israel.
The 24th Congress of the CPI(M) demands an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Israel should be declared as an apartheid State and acted against accordingly. It demands that the BJP government stop supporting Israel and revert to the established Indian policy of supporting Palestine. Lasting peace in the region is possible only by the establishment of a Palestinian State, with East Jerusalem as its capital and with pre-1967 borders.
The 24th Congress expresses its solidarity with the people of Palestine, and calls upon the Indian people to stand firmly with the people of Palestine in their just struggle for their homeland.
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