Assembly polls 2016 begins in Assam and WB

In the large number of people gathered across Assam and West Bengal in queue outside poll booths today, kicking off the 1st phase of a month-long poll process where the BJP is looking to expand its footprint into regions it has been traditionally weak. Voting in 65 constituencies of upper Assam and Barak Valley will decide if the BJP can snatch the state away from the three-time Congress chief minister Tarun Gogoi. Assam represents the best chance the BJP has to win a state. The party did extremely well in these two regions in the last Lok Sabha elections. The momentum that the party gains in these regions could carry it through April 11 elections for 61 seats in Muslim-dominated Lower and central Assam. The BJP’s electoral appeal in the absence of any perceptible ‘Modi wave’ and the Congress party’s tenacity against a spirited attack on one of its last fortresses will be under test. Out of the four states and one Union Territory -- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and Puduchhery -- going to polls in the next six weeks, the BJP has its eyes set on the north eastern state where it fancies a chance to create history by forming the government.