CPI-M re-elects Yechury as general secretary for third term

The CPI-M re-elected Sitaram Yechury as party general secretary for a third consecutive term on the final day of the 23rd party congress in Kerala’s Kannur on Sunday. West Bengal leader Ram Chandra Dome was elected to the politburo – the first Dalit in the party’s highest body.

Members of the central committee and politburo at or near the party’s retirement age of 75 were dropped from both bodies.

The party also slashed the size of the central committee from 95 to 85.

Kerala’s LDF convener A Vijayaraghavan and All India Kisan Sabha president Ashok Dhawale are also in the new 17-member politburo. S Ramachandran Pillai, Hannan Mollah and Biman Basu were all dropped.

There are 17 new faces in the 85-member central committee. Female representation has gone up to 15 with the inclusion of three new faces.

From Kerala, Finance Minister K N Balagopal, Industries Minister P Rajeev, former Lok Sabha members P Sathidevi and C S Sujatha were elected to the central committee.

The party congress on Sunday also adopted the organisational report, which called for steps to arrest the fall in the party membership, except in Kerala, in the four years after the last party congress in 2018.