New Delhi, Feb 26 (UNI) The Election Commission of India is likely to announce the poll schedule for four states and one union territory on Friday evening, sources said.
The term of Assemblies of states--West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala--and union territory Puducherry where President's rule was imposed this week, is coming to an end in May-June.
The seats at stake are 294 in West Bengal, 126 seats in Assam, 234 in Tamil Nadu, 140 in Kerala and 30 in Puducherry.
This will be the second large scale election in India in the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. In November, Bihar Assembly went to polls, and the alliance of ruling JD(U) and BJP was re-elected.
In Bengal, the ruling Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress is being challenged by the BJP and the alliance of Congress and Left parties. In 2016, TMC was re-elected after sweeping 211 of 294 seats in six-phase elections. The BJP, for the first time in Bengal in 2019 Lok Sabha, bagged 18 out of 42 seats contested.
In Assam, the BJP, elected in 2016 after winning 86 seats in 126-member Assembly, will fight against grand alliance of Congress and five other parties—the CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), AIUDF and the Anchalik Gana Morcha---and the alliance of newly formed regional political party Asom Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and Raijor Dal.
In Tamil Nadu, ruling AIADMK re-elected in 2016 after winning 136 seats of 234 in 2016 under the leadership of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa, will be challenged by Stalin-led DMK, having alliance with Congress. The BJP has sided with AIADMK while Tamil cinema star Kamal Hassan, who has floated a new party-- Makkal Neethi Maiam (MNM)--will contest from third front.
In Kerala, the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), which won 91 seats in 140-member Assembly, will be challenged by Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the BJP.
The Puducherry government, led by Congress, collapsed this week after its strength from 15 in 30 member-House reduced to 12. The UT will see a contest between Congress and AINRC.
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