Left parties improve performance, leading on 8-10 seats: EC trends

New Delhi: Embroiled in a battle for survival, Left parties marginally improved their performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, leading in eight to 10 seats according to vote counting trends.

The CPI (M), which had only three MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha, was leading in five parliamentary seats, trends of the Election Commission website around 12 noon showed.

The party sprung a surprise in Rajasthan, with its candidate from Sikar, Amra Ram, leading by more than 55,814 votes over BJP's Sumedhanand Saraswati.

In Tamil Nadu, where the CPI(M) fought on two seats, Madurai and Dindigul, the party was leading in both, while in Kerala's Alathur K Radhakrishnan of the CPI(M) was leading by more than 15,936 votes against Congress's Ramya Haridas.

There was a close contest in Attingal in Kerala where the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) has pitted V Joy against Congress's Adoor Prakash. The CPI(M) candidate was leading by around 600 votes, the trends around 12 noon showed.

In West Bengal's Murshidabad, Md Salim of the CPI(M) was trailing behind Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Abu Taher Khan by around 11,838 votes.

The Communist Party of India (CPI), which had two MPs in 17th Lok Sabha, is leading in two seats in Tamil Nadu -- Tirupur and Nagapattinam.

There was a close contest in Bihar's Begusarai, where CPI's Abdhesh Kumar Roy was trailing behind BJP leader and Union Minister Giriraj Singh by about 8,000 noon, according to the trends around 12 noon.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation was meanwhile leading in two of the three seats it contested in Bihar.

While in Bihar's Arrah, CPI-ML's Sudama Prasad was ahead of BJP's RK Singh by more than 18,000 votes around noon, in Karakat, Raja Ram Singh was ahead of NDA candidate Upendra Kushwaha by around 25,000 votes. The Left party was trailing in Nalanda.

Expelled BJP member and Bhojpuri actor-singer Pawan Singh is in the third position in Karakat.

Overall, around noon, the CPI(M) recorded around 1.83 per cent vote share, which has already surpassed the 2019 figure of 1.75 per cent vote share. The CPI's vote share by noon was 0.57 per cent, while CPI(ML)'s share was 0.11 per cent.