The CPM began its experiment of fielding young faces in electoral battles in the 2021 Assembly polls and the party decided to take forward the endeavour to the grassroots in this year's panchayat polls where a majority of its candidates are below the age of 40 years.

"Around 65 per cent of our candidates are aged below 40. Many of them belong to youth and students fronts. Many young women, doctors, teachers, and other professionals from outside the SFI and DYFI have also been nominated," said CPM's state secretary Md. Salim.

The CPM has fielded around 43,000 candidates for over 73,000 panchayat seats that will go to the polls on Saturday.

According to CPM sources, the move to bring young leaders to the political forefront in Bengal was a conscious strategy that preceded the party's decision taken in August 2021 to bring down the age ceiling for its central committee members to 75 years from 80. This, CPM leaders, had said was aimed at infusing fresh blood into the party. The age limit was implemented when a new central committee was elected at the CPM's 23rd party Congress held in Kerala's Kannur in 2022.

Before the 2022 party Congress, in the same year, the state conference of the Bengal unit decided to cap the age limit for members on the state committee at 72 and for those on the district committees at 70.

"It is a fact that more than the party, members of the SFI and the DYFI lead struggles on the streets against the Narendra Modi and Mamata Banerjee governments. To recognise their fight, the young leaders had to be fielded in the electoral battle but the outcome showed that it did not help to revive the party's dipping fortunes in 2021. The party's vote share dipped from 6.34 per cent in 2019 to 4.73 per cent in 2021," said a CPM state committee member.

In this year's panchayat polls, 14 SFI and around 10 DYFI state committee members have been fielded. According to sources, it is difficult to correctly estimate the total number of candidates nominated from these two wings but the number is likely to run into a few thousand.

Asked about the younger leadership's reaction to fielding members from the SFI and DYFI, state chief of the CPM's students' wing Srijan Bhattacharya said the party had always given a nudge to its younger members and brought them forward.

Bhattacharya himself unsuccessfully contested the Singur seat in 2021 and secured 14.3 per cent votes as compared to 39.50 per cent in 2016. His colleague, Pratik Ur Rahman, secured 17 per cent votes in 2021 compared to 41 per cent in 2016 in the Diamond Harbour seat.

In the top echelons of the CPM's organisation level, young faces still remain underrepresented. In the politburo, 64-year-old Ram Chandra Dome, former MP from Bengal, is the youngest in the highest decision-making body of the party. At 49, Vijoo Krishnan is the youngest central committee member.

The Bengal state committee has a few young faces.