Com Kodiyeri is Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Kerala State Committee since 2015.
He entered politics through the students wing of CPI(M) in 1970. He was Secretary of the Kerala State Committee of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) and its All India Joint Secretary between 1973 and 1979. During the time of The Emergency (India) Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was imprisoned under MISA for 16 months.
From 1980 to 1982, he was the Kannur District President of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI). At present, he is a CPI (M) Polit Bureau Member and CPI (M) Parliamentary Party Deputy Leader. He was elected as an MLA to Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1982, 1987 and 2001 from Kannur. In 2006 & 2011 he was elected from Thalassery.[1] On 23 February 2015, he was elected as the Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Kerala State Committee.He was Minister of Home affairs of Kerala during the time of V S Achudanandan Ministry.