After two successive terms, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala is set to lose power in the state, according to early trends for the Assembly election results announced on Monday (May 4). The loss will mark the first time since 1977 that no state in India has a communist government. Three states — Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal — have had communist governments in their history, but all have seen the ideology’s influence wane in recent years. Here is a brief history of how those governments came to power, and their more recent decline. In 1957, the Communist Party of India formed its first government in Kerala, albeit with a slim majority. This was, in fact, the first democratically elected communist government anywhere in the world. This government saw many policy firsts, such as wide-ranging agrarian and land reforms, which were introduced alongside welfare measures for the marginalised.…