Assembly elections will be held in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam, along with Puducherry, from April 4 to May 16. As the Congress, BJP and the Left compete for power, results of the spread out polls will be out on May 19, and decide the fates of the ruling state governments.
The elections will see the NOTA symbol for the first time. Nearly 170 million voters will cast their votes in over 118,000 polling stations. The results will decide the fates of political stalwarts like Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa, DMK boss M Karunanidhi and his successor M K Stalin, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Assam CM Tarun Gogoi and Kerala CM Oomen Chandy.
For veterans like Gogoi and Karunanidhi, a loss would virtually mean the end of their political careers. A lot is at stake for CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury too, as this is the first electoral challenge for the party under his charge. The party's performance in West Bengal will also be a verdict on the tie-up with Congress against Mamata.
Stakes are high for national leaders too. After some succour in Bihar, Congress and its top leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi face a real test in Assam and Kerala where the party is in office and cannot count on powerful regional allies to bail it out. The contest in Assam will be fierce. Chief minister Gogoi has a strong electoral record but faces an emergent BJP that has tied up useful alliances with AGP and Bodo People's Front, projected a tribal as CM and roped in Congress rebel Himanta Biswa Sarma. Success for the Congress in Assam, a key state with a large minority population, will be a big boost as it will be a hard fought win and vindicate the efficacy of the party's state organisation. BJP, on the other hand, was powered by a Modi wave to seven Lok Sabha seats in 2014 but does not have as good an organisational presence.
With the NaMO factor having waned, the party is hoping that its alliance with AGP and BPF will help it score its maiden victory in Assam: a feat which can also help it regain the political momentum after embarrassing losses in Delhi and Bihar.
