Election bells ringing on new year: Assembly elections in five places, including Kerala

NEW DELHI: With the advent of the new year, talks of assembly elections have also increased in five places, including Kerala. Apart from Kerala, elections will be held in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry in April and May. The dates may be announced in February or March. The Special Intensive Revision initiated in Bihar will be decisive in the West Bengal and Assam elections. The Maharashtra corporation elections, which will be held on January 15 with family equations making front politics irrelevant, will also attract national attention.

The Left Front, which is aiming for a hat-trick of rule in Kerala, and the Congress, which is trying to return to power, are facing a challenge from the BJP. There will be a triangular fight in Kerala. The election debut of actor Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) as a challenge to the ruling DMK will make Tamil Nadu stand out. The AIADMK and the BJP are in the field, setting the stage for a four-cornered contest.

The BJP is fighting for a hat-trick of rule in Assam, and the Congress is trying to make a comeback. The ruling All India NR Congress (ANRC)-BJP alliance and the Congress will fight head-to-head in Puducherry.

Bengal to witness fire

Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress, which has been in power since 2011, is trying to win a fourth term in West Bengal. The BJP has had its eyes on West Bengal since the Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre in 2014. The CPM, which has lagged behind the Trinamool's victory march despite ruling the state for 34 years, will contest this time too in alliance with the Congress.

'Family' alliance in Maharashtra

• In the Maharashtra corporation elections, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena, which is in the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi front, and his nephew Raj Thackeray's Mahanirman Sena (MNS) are joining hands
• Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has formed a local alliance with his uncle Sharad Pawar's faction, the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), for the Pimpri-Chinchwad and Pune municipal corporation elections.
• BJP and Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena are contesting together, while Congress is contesting alone in the opposition