The INDIA bloc was formed in June 2023 (File).
In September last year the INDIA opposition bloc - formed to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha election - met in Mumbai, after which it released a joint resolution that said it would contest the election "together as far as possible".
The phrasing raised eyebrows and underscored doubts (already raised) about the longevity of a mix of national, state, and regional parties with varying political ideologies and goals, and drew barbs from the BJP, which prophesied a collapse before the turn of the year.
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Of particular concern were seat-sharing exercises, as the next few weeks and months would show.
The bloc leader, the Congress, struggled to close deals with the Trinamool in Bengal, Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, and the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi and Punjab, while talks in Maharashtra also dragged.
These states together account for 190 seats.
It wasn't till a double boost in February - the Chandigarh mayoral election and a 17:63 split with the Samajwadi Party for UP's 80 seats - that the bloc seemed to find some momentum.
And while a deal with the Trinamool never materialised, the Congress, fueled by the Chandigarh win, also struck a deal with the AAP for Punjab's 13 and Delhi's seven seats.
Eventually, though, the bloc did manage a few deals, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, and Jammu and Kashmir, and is now a firm challenger to the BJP's hat-trick bid.
But all isn't smooth sailing because INDIA vs INDIA subplots have emerged not only in states where there are no seat-share deals - like Kerala and Bengal - and in states where there are.
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The Congress-led group faces 'friendly' fire in all 13 states voting in this phase.
Kerala
In Kerala, the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist) - INDIA members outside the state - will contest all 20 seats against the Congress.
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This means three of the party's senior-most leaders - Rahul Gandhi (the Amethi question is still unanswered), Shashi Tharoor, and KC Venugopal - must all fight Left leaders and BJP rivals in their contests from Wayanad, Thiruvananthapuram, and Alappuzha, respectively.
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Bengal
It is also obviously the case in Bengal, where the Congress and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool had quite a dramatic falling out over failed seat-share talks.
This means a Trinamool-less INDIA, rebadged as the Secular Democratic Alliance, has fielded candidates for the Darjeeling and Raiganj seats, while the Revolutionary Socialist Party will contest from Balurghat. All three of these were won by the BJP in the last election.
Maharashtra
The Congress is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, which includes the Shiv Sena faction led by ex-Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the Nationalist Congress Party unit of Sharad Pawar.
The three have agreed a seat-share deal between themselves, but it wasn't one the smaller parties - the CPI, CPM, All India Forward Bloc, and Bharat Adivasi Party - liked.
As a result, four of the eight seats in this phase will see a 'friendly' contest.
Amravati will see a Congress vs AIFB contest, while Hingoli and Parbhani will see Thackeray camp leaders against those from the CPIM and CPI. And in Wardha, Mr Pawar's NCP faction will contest against another AIFB candidate.
Rajasthan
The Congress, as head of the INDIA bloc has agreed a 22:1:1:1 split, with the BAP, Rashtriya Lok Party, and CPIM getting a seat each.
But the BAP has also fielded candidates in five other seats, setting up a contest the Congress could probably do without in a state that it was thumped - by the BJP - in the last Assembly election.
Other States
Similar contests are on the cards in Assam's Silchar (Congress vs Trinamool), Bihar's Purnia (Rashtriya Janata Dal vs AIFB), Jammu (Congress vs AIFB), and Damoh in Madhya Pradesh (Congress vs BAP).
There are two such contests in Karnataka, including the Bengaluru Rural seat being contested by Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's brother, DK Suresh, who will face a Viduthalai Chiruthaigai Katchi candidate.
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