The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation (in brief CPI(ML)L) is a communist political party in India. In Bihar, the party has significant base amongst the Extremely Backward Castes and the Scheduled Castes. It was successful in mobilising Upper Backward Caste groups such as Koeris in some districts of central Bihar, prior to the rise of Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party faced existential crisis when a large section of its Koeri and Yadav support base defected to Rashtriya Janata Dal in 1990s. However, the ideological commitment of its cadre protected it from disintegration.
In 1974, Mishra came into contact with Subrata Dutta (Jauhar), a leader of armed struggle in the plain areas of Bihar. On 28 July 1974 (the second death anniversary of Charu Majumdar), a new party Central Committee was formed with Jauhar as General Secretary and Mishra and Swadesh Bhattacharya (Raghu) as members.
In November 1975, Jauhar was killed during Lal Sena activities. Mishra became the new party General Secretary in a reorganized five-member Central Committee. Mishra organized a second party congress, held clandestinely in the rural areas of Gaya district in February 1976. The congress unanimously re-elected Mishra as General Secretary.
In the third party congress, it was decided that IPF will participate in parliamentary elections. In 1989, IPF's Rameshwar Prasad won the loksabha seat from Ara (Bhojpur). In 1990, IPF won seven seats from Bihar Legislative Assembly. Special initiatives taken for restructuring the party and open up. IPF hold its first rally on 8 October 1990 in Delhi.
CPIML's mass base in the state of Bihar was among the members of Extremely Backward and Schedule Castes and it was initially unable to draw support for its activities from the upper backward castes. It was, however successful in mobilising the Koeris in the regions like Arrah, Rohtas, Patna and Aurangabad. This success remained temporary as with the formation of Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Koeri and Yadav support base of CPIML increasingly shifted its loyalty to the RJD. This was because plum posts in the party was offered by RJD to those defecting from the CPIML. During this period four legislators associated with Indian People's Front, the open mass organisation of CPIML defected to the RJD. These were Shri Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha, K.D Yadav, Umesh Singh and Suryadev Singh. However, the party was saved from complete ruin by the presence of top leadership which was ideologically committed and belonged to social groups such as non-Yadav Other Backward Castes.
The ASDC
In 1985, the party launched People's democratic Front (PDF) in Karbi Anglong district of Assam which won a seat in state assembly. In 1987 PDF was transformed to Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC). A sustained mass movement by ASDC help it to sweep district council elections in 1989. In 1981, ASDC's Jayanta Rongpi became an MP in Parliament. In 1996, ASDC was able to send its five-member group in Assam assembly as MLA.
In 1992, after the Fifth party congress (Held in Kolkata), the party comes out in the open from its underground status. Mishra was re-elected General Secretary of the party at the sixth congress of CPIML Liberation in Varanasi in October 1997. Liberation has established legal overground structures (trade unions, student groups, peasant organisations etc.) and participates in elections. In the Lok Sabha elections in 1999 the party won 0.3% of the votes and one seat (the former ASDC-seat from Assam). In the 2004 elections the seat was lost, mainly due to a split within ASDC. As of 2016, the party has been able to send its representatives to the state legislative assemblies of Bihar and Jharkhand as well as the panchayats of Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Punjab.
In November 2020, it won 12 seats in Bihar's election. In 2025, it was reduced to 2 seats.
In 2024, it was able to win two seats in from Bihar in Indian general election. The CPIMLL candidates, Raja Ram Singh Kushwaha and Sudama Prasad were able to defeat union minister R. K. Singh in Arrah Lok Sabha constituency and Upendra Kushwaha and Bhojpuri singer and actor Pawan Singh in Karakat Lok Sabha constituency. In a report, Dainik Bhaskar stated that the party is more strong than Indian National Congress in the state of Bihar, given its stellar performance in 2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly elections and 2024 Indian general elections. Many a times, it was seen protesting against its own government outside and inside the house of legislative assembly. The party was also praised for its ground level work amongst the downtrodden section of society and for winning the elections with bare minimum resources, when other political parties relied on heavy funding from the corporate for their election expenses.
However the party suffered a setback in 2025, when it won just 2 seats in the 2025 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, suffering a loss of 10 seats.
CPIMLL has also showed significant presence in the regions such as Siwan and has been at the forefront in the fight against local landed magnates on the question of poor. It came into conflict with the gangster politician Mohammad Shahabuddin in the region, who was supported by local feudal elements. The Party has been served in the region by the influential local leaders such Ramesh Singh Kushwaha.
Publications
The English-language publication of the party is Liberation, and thus the party is called CPIML Liberation. Apart from Liberation, the party publishes a central Hindi weekly organ, Samkaleen Lokyuddh. Some state party committees publish their own organs, like the weekly Ajker Deshabrati in West Bengal, Nabasphulinga in Tripura, Teeppori in Tamil Nadu, Telugu Liberation in Andhra Pradesh, Kannada Liberation in Karnataka, Samkali Lok Morcha in Punjab, etc.
States
Bihar
The party has a longstanding conflict with the feudal landlords since the beginning of CPI (ML). Siwan, Bhojpur, Arrah are the strongholds of CPI (ML) movement. The communist movement in Bihar was founded by the comrade Jagdish Mahto, Rameshwar Ahir and Ramnaresh Ram in the Ekwaari village of Bhojpur. Traditionally, CPIML had a strong base between Kushwahas and Dalits of Bihar.
Bihar Legislative Assembly Election
2015
CPIML Liberation emerged as the fifth largest party in Bihar Legislative Assembly Election 2015. The party contested jointly along with CPI, CPI(M), RSP, Forward Bloc, and SUCI(C) as a third alternative to the National Democratic Alliance and the Mahagathbandhan of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar. The party won the seats of Darauli, Balrampur and Tarari each. The party has a vote percentage of 1.5% in the state. All the left parties together have a vote percentage of 3.59%.
thumb|218x218px|Map of results of 2020 Bihar assembly elections, grouped by party and alliance
2020
CPI(ML) Liberation contested the 2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election as part of the Mahagathbandhan, an alliance of the UPA and the leftist parties led by the Rashtriya Janata Dal. The party secured 12 seats with a vote percentage of 3.16%, making it the fifth largest party in the Bihar Legislative Assembly. However, the Mahagathbandhan lost the election to the rival National Democratic Alliance.
As a result of the election, the CPI(ML)L was recognised as a state party by the Election Commission of India. thumb|[[Giridih district, Jharkhand|157x157px]]
2014 state election
The party contested in cooperation with state left parties like Marxist Co-ordination Committee (MCC), CPI, and CPI(M) as an alternative to the BJP and INC led alliances. The party won the Dhanwar seat. The party got 1.5% of vote in the state. All the left parties together got 2.5% vote in the state.
2019 state election
The party gained the legislative assembly seat of Bagodar but lost the previous seat from Dhanwar.
2024 state election
In the 2024 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election, the Marxist Co-ordination Committee (MCC), which since its inception was closely associated with the CPI(ML) Liberation, formally merged with the CPI(ML)L in September 2024.
Following the merger, CPI(ML)L held its first meeting on 10–11 September 2024, where five MCC leaders were inducted into its Central Committee.
As a result of the election, the CPI(ML)L gained the legislative assembly seats of Sindri and Nirsa.
Leadership
The current general secretary of the party is Dipankar Bhattacharya, first elected in 1998 after the passing of Vinod Mishra. The 11th party congress of CPIML Liberation, held in Patna, Bihar from 15 to 20 February 2023 elected a Central Committee with 77 members. The Central Committee later elected a 17 numbers of Politburo members Committee.
Politburo members
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|-
!Style="background-color:;color:white" |
!Style="background-color:;color:white" | Name
|-
|1
|Dipankar Bhattacharya
|-
|2
| Swadesh Bhattacharya
|-
|3
| Kartik Paul
|-
|4
| Ramji Rai
|-
|5
| Amar
|-
|6
| Kunal
|-
|7
| Dhirendra Jha
|-
|8
| Janardan Prasad
|-
|9
| Manoj Bhakt
|-
|10
| Shankar V
|-
|11
| Rajaram Singh
|-
|12
| Vinod Singh
|-
|13
|Meena Tiwari
|-
|14
| Abhijit Mazumdar
|-
|15
| Shashi Yadav
|-
|16
|Sanjay Sharma
|-
|17
|Ravi Rai
|}
General Secretary
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Style="background-color:;color:white" |
!Style="background-color:;color:white" |Name
!Style="background-color:;color:white" |Tenure
|-
| 1st||Subrata Dutta || 1974–1975
|-
| 2nd||Vinod Mishra || 1975–1998
|-
| 3rd||Dipankar Bhattacharya || 1998–incumbent
|}
Electoral performance
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!Style="background-color:;color:white" | Election Year
!Style="background-color:;color:white" | Overall votes
!Style="background-color:;color:white" | % of overall votes
!Style="background-color:;color:white" | seats contested
!Style="background-color:;color:white" | seats won
!Style="background-color:;color:white" | ± in seats
!Style="background-color:;color:white" | ± in vote share
|-
!colspan=7|Bihar Legislative Assembly
|-
|2015
|5,87,701
|1.54%
|98
|
|3
|0.29
|-
|2020
|13,33,682
|3.16%
|19
|
|9
|1.66
|-
|2025
|14,25,592
|2.84%
|20
|
| 10
|0.32
|-
!colspan=7|Jharkhand Legislative Assembly
|-
|2005
|
|2.46%
|28
|
|
|
|-
|2009
|241,436
|2.35%
|33
|
|
|0.11
|-
|2014
|210,446
|1.52%
|39
|
|
|0.83
|-
|2019
|172,475
|1.15%
|14
|
|
|0.35
|-
|2024
|337,062
|1.89%
|4
|
|1
|0.74
|-
!colspan=7|Lok Sabha
|-
|2009
|1,044,510
|0.25%
|
|
|
|
|-
|2014
|1,007,275
|0.18%
|
|
|
|0.7
|-
|2019
|711,715
|0.12%
|
|
|
|0.6
|-
|2024
|1,726,309
|2.99%
|4
|
|2
|2.87
|-
|}
Members of Lok Sabha
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! colspan="5" |Members of Lok Sabha
|-
!Year
!Lok Sabha
!Name
!Constituency
!Margin
|-
!thumb|[[1999 Indian general election]]
|13th Lok Sabha
|Jayanta Rongpi
|thumb|[[Autonomous District Lok Sabha constituency]]
|1,04,864
|-
! rowspan="2" |thumb|[[2024 Indian general election]]
| rowspan="2" |18th Lok Sabha
| Sudama Prasad
|thumb|[[Arrah Lok Sabha constituency]]
|59,808
|-
| Raja Ram Singh Kushwaha
|thumb|[[Karakat Lok Sabha constituency]]
|1,05,858
|}
Members of Legislative Assembly Bihar
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! colspan="5" |thumb|Members of [[Bihar Legislative Assembly]]
|-
! colspan="5" |17th Bihar Assembly
|-
!Year
!Nos.
!Name
!Constituency
!Margin
|-
! rowspan="16" |thumb|[[2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election]]
|1.
|Birendra Prasad Gupta
|thumb|[[Sikta Assembly constituency|Sikta]]
|2,302
|-
|2.
|Mahbub Alam
|thumb|[[Balrampur, Bihar Assembly constituency|Balrampur]]
|53,597
|-
|3.
|thumb|[[Amarjeet Kushwaha]]
|thumb|[[Ziradei Assembly constituency|Ziradei]]
|
|-
|4.
|thumb|[[Satyadeo Ram]]
|thumb|[[Darauli Assembly constituency|Darauli]]
|12,119
|-
|5.
|Gopal Ravidas
|thumb|[[Phulwari Assembly constituency|Phulwari]]
|13,857
|-
|6.
|Sandeep Saurav
|thumb|[[Paliganj Assembly constituency|Paliganj]]
|30,915
|-
|7.
|
| rowspan="3" |thumb|[[Agiaon Assembly constituency|Agiaon]]
|48,550
|-
| rowspan="2" |8.
|Shiv Prakash Ranjan
| rowspan="2" |29,835
|-
|2024 By-election
|-
|9.
|
| rowspan="3" |thumb|[[Tarari Assembly constituency|Tarari]]
|11,015
|-
| rowspan="2" |10.
|
| rowspan="2" |
|-
|2024 By-election
|-
|11.
|thumb|[[Ajit Kushwaha]]
|thumb|[[Dumraon Assembly constituency|Dumraon]]
|
|-
|12.
|
|thumb|[[Karakat Assembly constituency|Karakat]]
|
|-
|13.
|thumbMaha Nand Singh
|thumb|[[Arwal Assembly constituency|Arwal]]
|
|-
|14.
|
|thumb|[[Ghosi, Bihar Assembly constituency|Ghosi]]
|
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! colspan="5" |thumb|[[Member of Bihar Legislative Assembly]]
|-
! colspan="5" |16th Bihar Assembly
|-
!Year
!Nos.
!Name
!Constituency
!Margin
|-
! rowspan="3" |thumb|[[2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election]]
|1.
|thumb|[[Satyadeo Ram]]
|thumb|[[Darauli Assembly constituency|Darauli]]
|
|-
|2.
|Mahbub Alam
|thumb|[[Balrampur, Bihar Assembly constituency|Balrampur]]
|20,419
|-
|6.
|
|thumb
|
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
! colspan="5" |thumb|[[Member of Bihar Legislative Assembly]]
|-
! colspan="5" |14th bihar Assembly
|-
!Year
!Nos.
!Name
!Constituency
!Margin
|-
! rowspan="5" |thumb|[[October 2005 Bihar Legislative Assembly election]]
|1.
|Amar Nath Yadav
|thumb|[[Darauli Assembly constituency|Darauli]]
|
|-
|2.
|Mahbub Alam
|
|
|-
|3.
|
|thumb|[[Karakat Assembly constituency|Karakat]]
|
|-
|4.
|
|
|
|-
|5.
|
|
|
|}
Mass organizations
The main mass organizations of the party are:
- Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA)
- All India Students Association (AISA)
- All India Agricultural and Rural Labour Association (AIARLA)
- All India Peasants' Coordination Committee
- All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU)
- All India Progressive Women's Association (AIPWA)
- Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC)
- All India Kisan Mahasabha (AIKM)
See also
- List of political parties in India