Poll dates announced for four states and an union territory

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has sounded the bugle for the Assembly elections of the following states Assam, Keralam, union territory of Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. While all the states are having one poll day West Bengal is having two poll days.

In a presser held here in New Delhi the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar declared that elections for Assam , Keralam and Puducherry will be held on April 9, For Tamil Nadu it will be for April 23. For West Bengal it will be in two phases April 23 and 29 while counting for all the states which are going to polls will be held on May 4.

Expiry dates of Assemblies

The term for Assam assembly will be terminated on May 20, 2026, for Keralam it is May 23, Puducherry assembly term will come to an end on June 15, Tamil Nadu assembly will be expiring on May 10 while West Bengal assembly need to be formed by May 7

Fate of incumbent governments in these states

Almost every government in the poll bound states are suffering from anti-incumbency. To make the things worse main opposition party in Assam and Keralam that is Congress has lost it’s credibility. For which it can be expected that in Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma led BJP government may sweep the upcoming polls. Same thing applies in Keralam as well. Pinarayi Vijayan led Left Democratic Alliance (LDA) government may romp home with a thumping majority. Trends show that in Keralam and Tamil Nadu the government changes every five years. But if there isn’t any trusted opposition this trend is bound to come to halt. Former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa led AIADMK government proved the poll fanatics wrong by retaining power in 2016. But now it’s a tough ask for Stalin government as the principal opposition which is the AIADMK has regrouped themselves and with an alliance with the BJP it can be expected that Palanisami, leader AIADMK, could become the next Chief Minister. Hate speeches by the DMK leaders and ministers have invited trouble for themselves. In West Bengal Mamata Banerjee led TMC government are down but not out. Down with a lot of corruption charges after enjoying power for an uninterrupting 15 years but are not out as the principal opposition BJP are left with a very poor organisation in the grassroot level.

Election after SIR

Special Intensive Revision (SIR) are conducted in some states and West Bengal is not an exemption. With the elections being held for the first time after it’s implementation it remains to be seen how much effective SIR becomes in Bengal elections. It is being expected that a huge chunk of Muslims won’t be able to cast their votes who are considered to be the TMC vote banks.