State Assembly Elections slated to happen in 2021

Bihar Election was India's first big election after the world was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. Surmounting anti-incumbency of 15 years, a mutinous former ally, and a spirited challenge from a resurgent opposition that rose from its ashes like proverbial phoenix after the 2019 Lok Sabha poll debacle, Nitish Kumar-led NDA was back in power in Bihar with a slender majority.

Here is a look at the upcoming elections in various states in 2021.

Assam Assembly Elections 2021

The elections to the 126-member Assam assembly will be held in April-May 2021. The 2016 polls resulted in a fractured mandate and no party had an absolute majority.

The BJP is the single largest party with 60 MLAs, while its allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and BPF have 14 and 12 lawmakers, respectively. The ruling coalition also has the support of an Independent MLA.

The opposition Congress has 23 MLAs, while the AIUDF has 14 members in the House.

West Bengal Assembly Elections 2021

The high-stakes West Bengal assembly elections are likely to be held in May 2021The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has approved a tie up with the Congress for the upcoming polls. The move is being seen as a "tactical" move to gain some lost ground in a state which the Left ruled for an uninterrupted 34 years.

It will be the first electoral contest between the two parties since this year's Lok Sabha polls, which saw the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerging as the main opposition in the state, with 18 of the 42 seats in its kitty, just four less than that of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

For the BJP, the challenge is to live up to its performance in the parliamentary polls, whereas the TMC will try hard to regain its lost political ground.

Tamil Nadu Assembly Elections 2021

The Tamil Nadu assembly election is slated to be held on May 2021 for the 234 seats of the Legislative Assembly in the state. This will be the first full-state legislative election without the popular J. Jayalalithaa and M. Karunanidhi. The 2021 election will be keenly contested between the arch rivals AIADMK and DMK.

The ruling AIADMK will continue its alliance with the BJP for next year's Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth's political party which will be launched in January 2021 will fight on all 234 seats in the next Assembly elections.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, despite the speculation that AIADMK will join with BJP, the former went alone and swept the polls by winning 37 out of 39 seats. With former union minister Pon Radhakrishnan's victory in Kanyakumari, BJP managed to clinch one seat.

Kerala Assembly Elections 2021

Kerala will go to polls in May 2021 to elect 140 MLAs to the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly. The battle will be fierce in Kerala for the CPI (M) as it will try to hold on to power, for the Congress as it will attempt to get its 'turn' after five years, and for the BJP which will strive to make inroads into the southern state.

The tenure of the members of the 14th Legislative Assembly in the state will end on 1 June 2021.

In the previous elections in 2016, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) had won the election bagging around two-third of the total seats to the assembly, defeating the incumbent United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the Indian National Congress (INC), which could only win 47 seats in the election. The BJP won one seat, and the remaining seat was won by an independent, who later formed the party Kerala Janapaksham (Secular).

Jammu and Kahmir Assembly Elections 2021

After the removal of Sections 370 and 35A, the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections will be held in 2021. According to which there were a total of 111 seats in the assembly. After the formation of Ladakh's separate union territory, it will reduce by four seats. That means 107 will be left in the J&K assembly.

In the last assembly election (2014), BJP won 25 out of 37 assembly seats in Jammu region, five seats were bagged by Congress and two major parties of Kashmir Valley, ie J&K People's Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference (NC) had got three seats each. One seat went to the independent candidate.