As the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh came to a close at the end of 2022, the country has welcomed a new year that will feature nine state assembly elections and will serve as a trial run for the 2024 Lok Sabha election. It will also lay the groundwork for Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

The states that will see an election in 2023 are Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Telangana, and the northeastern states of Tripura, Meghalaya, Nagaland, and Mizoram. The Central government may also consider announcing elections in Jammu and Kashmir, which will be the first polls after the abrogation of Article 370 and the scrapping of the special status.

The electoral battle between the parties is being considered tough because, at a time when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is eyeing the state polls, it is a survival battle for the Congress as well. The two states out of nine that have a Congress-led government will go to the polls are Rajasthan and Chattisgarh.

The electoral battle of 2023 

The year will possibly begin with the election in the northeastern states. A few of the other states that will go to the polls are:

Chattisgarh

The state will see a tough battle between the Grand Old Party and the Saffron Brigade, as the way in which Congress unseated the three-time Chief Minister in the state was a blow for the BJP. The Congress never won the polls after the first election in 2003 until 2018, with Raman Singh holding the CM post for 15 years. It will be a survival battle for the Congress and an election of prestige for the BJP.

Rajasthan

The Congress grabbed this state from the Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government in 2018, becoming the single largest party and winning 100 seats in the 200-seat assembly; a majority of one failing for the government. On the other hand, the BJP fared worse, securing only 73 seats as compared to an absolute majority of 163 seats in the 2013 Assembly elections.

In 2023, the battle between the Congress and BJP is being considered a direct fight, as both parties would fight it out for prestige.

Madhya Pradesh

In the last election, Congress won 114 seats in the 230-member Assembly and formed the government with the support of the Samajwadi Party's one MLA, the Bahujan Samaj Party's two MLAs, and four independent MLAs. Kamal Nath became the Chief Minister, but the resignation of Jyotiraditya Scindia led to the shift of 22 MLAs from the Congress Party to the BJP. It caused a political crisis in 2020, and the BJP formed the state government.

Karnataka

This state was another Hung Assembly after the 2018 elections when no political party got a majority. Former Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa was sworn in as Chief Minister, but he had to resign, and the Congress-JD(S) coalition formed the cabinet, led by HD Kumarasamy. However, the coalition lost its majority after 14 months, and Basavaraj Bommai is now the Chief Minister.

Telangana 

CM KCR won the 2018 polls, bagging 88 of the 119 seats. The election will be an important turn for Rao if he can preserve his bastion for the third time in a row.

(With inputs from agencies)