2021 elections: ECI begins preparations for polls in 4 states, 1 UT

New Delhi, Dec 18: The Election Commission has started preparing for the five assembly elections due some time in April-May next year with two if its senior officials set to visit West Bengal and Tamil Nadu in the next few days.

While Election Commission Secretary-General Umesh Sinha would be visiting Tamil Nadu next week, Deputy Election Commissioner Sudip Jain would be in West Bengal in the coming days, sources told news agency Press Trust of India.

The terms of the legislative assemblies of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry is coming to an end between May and June next year.

A high stakes political battle is expected in most of the states. The intensity has been particularly high in West Bengal, where the BJP is making a determined bid to end the ruling Trinamool Congress's 10-year rule after emerging as its main rival in the last few years and winning 18 of its 42 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 polls.

The ruling BJP is in direct contest with the Congress in Assam, while the political scene in Tamil Nadu, which has been traditionally dominated by the two regional parties, has become interesting after Tamil superstar Rajinikanth and veteran actor Kamal Haasan entered the political arena.

In Kerala, the main contest is expected to be between the ruling LDF, headed by the CPI(M), and the Congress-led UDF.