Assembly Election 2026 Highlights: Kerala, Assam, Puducherry gear up for voting tomorrow
Assembly Election 2026 Highlights: Voting will be held on Thursday in a single phase for Assam’s 126 seats, Kerala’s 140 seats and Puducherry’s 30 seats. Tamil Nadu will vote in one phase on 23 April. West Bengal will vote in two phases – 23 and 29 April.
Assembly Election 2026 Highlights: High-octane campaigning ended in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry on Tuesday. The two states and the Union Territory are voting in a single phase on 9 April.
West Bengal and Tamil Nadu will also vote in assembly elections later this month.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday filed her nomination at the Survey Building from Bhabanipur assembly constituency for the 2026 State Assembly elections.
Banerjee is contesting from the Bhabanipur seat, from where she will face a repeat clash with BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari.
Leaders from major parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress heavyweights like Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, held last-minute campaigns in poll-bound states on Tuesday.
Voting will start on Thursday (April 9) in a single phase for Assam’s 126 seats, Kerala’s 140 seats and Puducherry’s 30 seats. Tamil Nadu will vote in one phase on 23 April. West Bengal will vote in two phases – 23 and 29 April. Results for all assembly elections will be declared on 4 May.
Assam and Kerala
The 126 seats of Assam will vote on 9 April. The campaigning ended on Tuesday evening. The 9 April election in Assam is primarily a fight between the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
In 2021, the election saw the incumbent BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) retain power with 75 seats, marking the first time a non-Congress alliance won consecutive terms in the state.
Kerala will also vote for all 140 seats on 9 April. Kerala has been governed by the CPI(M)-led LDF for the past decade. In the 2021 elections, the LDF retained power with 99 seats, becoming the first incumbent government since 1977 to win consecutive terms.
West Bengal and Tamil Nadu
In Tamil Nadu, all 234 seats will go to the polls in a single phase on 23 April. In the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, the DMK-Congress alliance came to power, and MK Stalin became the Chief Minister.
In Puducherry, 30 seats will go to the polls on 9 April.
The most-watched contest is, however, in West Bengal, where the BJP is contesting against the incumbent Trinamool Congress. Mamata Banerjee-led TMC has been in power in West Bengal since 2011.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) won with 213 seats, while the BJP emerged as the main opposition with 77 seats.
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