Assam voted to elect 126 members of the Legislative Assembly, Kerala to elect 140, Puducherry to elect 30 members, Tamil Nadu to elect 234 members, and West Bengal to elect 294 members.
New Delhi: The states of Assam, Kerala, and the Union territory of Puducherry went to elections on 9 April, while voting in Tamil Nadu was held on 23 April, and West Bengal went to polls on 23 and 29 April. The counting of votes will be held on 4 May and the results will be declared on the same day. Assam voted to elect 126 members of the Legislative Assembly, Kerala to elect 140, Puducherry to elect 30 members, Tamil Nadu to elect 234 members, and West Bengal to elect 294 members.
Here, we take a look at the most probable candidates for the post of the chief minister for all states and one union territory.
- Starting with Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma of the BJP is the incumbent chief minister. Given his track record and popularity, he is considered the favourite to retain the post of the CM. Other big players in the fray are State Congress president Gaurav Gogoi and the incumbent Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia.
- In Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan is the incumbent chief minister. The main contest is between UDF and LDF, to which Pinarayi Vijayan belongs. The state is watching to see if the LDF can pull off another historic “repeat” or if the UDF will regain its footing. Pinarayi Vijayan is a very strong contender from the CPI (M)/LDF. Though the party hasn’t officially declared him as the candidate, he remains the undisputed leader of the Left Front. VD Satheesan of the Congress/UDF front and the current Leader of the Opposition is the primary face for the post of chief minister.
- In Puducherry, N. Rangaswamy of the AINRC/NDA is the incumbent chief minister. He is the frontrunner for the post of the chief minister. Challenging him would be V Vaithilingam of the Congress/DMK+ alliance.
4 In Tamil Nadu, MK Stalin of the DMK is the incumbent chief minister. This time, there is the entry of Tamil actor Vijay’s party, the TVK, making it a three-sided contest. Apart from MK Stalin of the DMK/SPA, there are Vijay and Edappadi K Palaniswami of the AIADMK.
- In West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee of the TMC is the incumbent chief minister. She is facing tough resistance from the BJP. As Mamata Banerjee seeks a fourth term as the CM, Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP is the most prominent face for the post apart from her.
