Prakash Karat was on Monday re-elected as General Secretary for the third term at CPI(M)'s 20th Congress, which gave a call to strengthen the party and work towards building a Left and democratic alternative in the country.

This would be the last term for the 64-year-old Karat as the Congress has amended its constitution to limit the tenure of party secretaries to three terms.

Karat was elected as General Secretary in 2005 at the New Delhi Congress and again at Coimbatore for the second term.

The Congress, which was held in the backdrop of the severe drubbing that the CPI(M) received in the assembly polls of West Bengal and Kerala, also named an 87 member central committee, including 15 politburo members.

Kerala Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan, removed from the politburo in 2009 for breach of party discipline, did not get back to the politburo, while former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was retained despite his absence at the Congress due to health problems.

West Bengal Opposition Leader Suryakanta Mishra, CITU president A K Padmanabhan and former Kerala Minister M A Baby are newcomers in the politburo.

The central committee has 13 newcomers, including two women -- Rekha Goswami from West Bengal and K K Shailaja from Kerala. There are two permanent invitees and four special invitees to the central committee.

The Congress, which concluded here today, also elected a five-member central control commission with Benoy Konar as chairman.