The ruling LDF is looking for an encore this assembly election.
Kerala will vote in a new government on April 6. The results of the single-phase election will be declared on May 2, the poll panel announced today. The 14th assembly's term comes to an end towards the end of May.
The issue of notification for the election will happen on March 12. The last date for nomination is March 19. The scrutiny of nominations will take place the next day and candidates have time up to March 22 to withdraw their names.
The election schedule has been timed to end before the annual monsoon arrives in the state anytime in the last week of May or the first week of June.
The 140-member assembly will see representatives being elected from the state's 14 districts. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist, is hoping for an encore this time - a rare occurrence in Kerala politics. Kerala is the only state where the CPM is in power.
The United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the Congress, had seemed a little low on momentum, especially after the ruling combine swept the local body polls held late last year. In recent weeks, though it has experienced an uptick and hopes to peak by voting time. The combine is looking a little further in the past for inspiration - the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in which it won 19 of the 20 seats from the state.
The BJP-led NDA, meanwhile, is looking to finally make a mark in a state that has never turned right in its electoral history - the last assembly had only one BJP MLA, O Rajagopal, from Nemom constituency. This time, though, it has brought in "Metro Man" E Sreedharan, potentially turning him into the party's mascot this election.