Assembly elections to NDA-ruled Assam and Puducherry and Left-helmed Kerala and bypolls to four seats in three states will take place on Thursday.
The NDA has won all Assembly polls, except in Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir, since its sub-par performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In Assam, Kerala and Puducherry, 1,906 candidates are in the fray for a total of 296 seats. More than 5.3 crore voters will cast their ballots in 63,056 polling stations for the three Assemblies. After Bihar, these are the first set of polls that will have colour photos of candidates on EVMs.
This is the second Assembly polls, after the Bihar elections, since the SIR exercise started in 2025. Assam has undergone a special revision, which unlike other states, did not prepare the rolls afresh because of the ongoing National Register of Citizens updation. All states and the Union Territory of Puducherry, which are going to the polls on Thursday, have seen a reduction in the number of voters because of the revisions.
Surveys have largely given a pro-incumbency tilt in this round of Assembly polls, except in Kerala, in which the Congress-led United Democratic Front is pegged to have the upper hand. The BJP is keen to make its debut in the state that has swung
between the CPM-led Left Democratic Front and the UDF since 1980, except for
the 2021 polls where the LDF retained power.
The Congress has accused the CPM of a tacit understanding with the BJP and the Social Democratic Party of India, which it accuses of Islamic fundamentalism. Alleged inaction on corruption cases against CPM leaders, including chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, has been cited as a reason for this purported deal with the BJP. These are charges that the CPM, whose cadres have been killed in clashes with these two parties, has denied.
The CPM has accused the Congress of apathy in fighting for rehabilitation funds from the Centre after the Wayanad landslides in 2024. Congress’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is the Wayanad MP. There are fears within the Congress of its cadres defecting to the BJP if they fail to return to power.
Bombay High Court on Wednesday quashed the Election Commission’s notification for the byelection to the Ponda Assembly seat in
Goa, a day ahead of polling, citing violation of the Representation of the People
Act, 1951, as the legislature’s term is set to expire in less than a year.