Nearly 200 million voters will be going to the polls on 10 May in the states of Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. Congress against two opposition alliances.
Opinion polls are anxious to predict the outcome in the different states.
But so far, only West Bengal is predicted to go to the ruling Left Front coalition once again, while the other four states are by and large expected to show strong support for the Congress party - leaving the BJP out of the picture. Leaders of the BJP-led ruling coalition in Delhi have made it clear that as far as they are concerned, the results of these state elections do not amount to a referendum on their time in office so far. Analysts say that if regional members of the ruling coalition, such as the DMK in Tamil Nadu, do badly in the polls, it will strengthen the image of a BJP-led coalition as a weak and unsuccessful political force. However, it is not as if all is well within the Congress camp either. In this election campaign, left-wing parties have spared no opportunity to criticise the Congress for what they say is a tacit alliance between the party and the BJP in the southern state of Kerala.