Upcoming Elections in India

The incumbent Aam Aadmi Party will fight to retain its seat of power with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress looking to unseat the Arvind Kejriwal-led party.

These elections will be crucial for Kejriwal after his party's lacklustre performance in the general elections last year. The three-time chief minister (CM) had also resigned from his post after being put behind bars in the Delhi liquor case, vowing to return only after getting a "certificate of honesty" from the people.

In Bihar, CM Nitish Kumar has said he won't join hands with Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) after the friend-turned-foe offered an olive branch.

Kumar is known for switching sides, having done it multiple times during his political career. But experts don't see him leaving the National Democratic Alliance this time around after his Janata Dal (United) benefited from aligning with the BJP in the general elections last year.

A new entrant will be political strategist-turned-activist Prashant Kishore's Jan Suraaj Party, which is planning to field candidates on all 243 seats.

The country will also witness a host of local body elections from Jammu and Kashmir to Kerala. All eyes, though, will be on the country's richest municipal body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which last went to polls in 2017.

The BMC elections are set to be a major prestige issue for both the factions of Shiv Sena and the BJP.

The latter, especially, is looking to win the polls to the cash-rich corporation after prevailing over alliance partners to get its own CM in the saddle..

On the other hand, these elections may decide the political future of Uddhav Thackeray, who lost the CM's chair, his party, and last year's state elections.