Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 23 (IANS): Veteran CPI-M leader and former state minister A.K. Balan known for speaking his mind on Saturday expressed concern that if the party does not fare well in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls then it will lose its national status.

“The problem of losing the national status is, then the famed symbol of the CPI-M cannot be used and then we will be at the mercy of the Election Commission who will allot a symbol,” said Balan, presently a central committee member of the party.

“And if such a thing happens, then who knows our candidates will have to contest on symbols like ‘Pangolin’ ( in Malayalam it’s called Enampechi) or even on a symbol like ‘Octopus’ ( Neerali in Malayalam). Then we will have to say vote for the LDF candidate on the symbol of Enampechi or Octopus,” added Balan,.

Balan was addressing a meeting of the staff members of a CPI-M backed state run organization.

Incidentally in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the CPI-M led Left won just one seat of the 20 in Kerala.

Overall the CPI-M had just 3 Lok Sabha members from 2019 to 2024 and managed to get a mere 0.55 per cent of the votes.

After being wiped out in West Bengal and Tripura, Kerala is the last bastion of the CPI-M and hence Balan and his party are worried about what the future holds for them.