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New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has sought to push aside its setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections when it failed to get a majority on its own, with successive wins in state assembly elections since. Apart from Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand, the BJP has emerged victorious, even ahead of its own allies in every other state assembly election including Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi and Bihar.

In 2026, the BJP is facing an uphill task as five assembly elections are scheduled next month, including three states ruled by opposition parties. The saffron party is in government in only one state, Assam, and in coalition with others in the Union Territory of Puducherry. It’s facing tough competition in the remaining states – West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The BJP not only faces strong regional parties like the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Tamil Nadu, which have been in power for 15 years and 10 years respectively, it is also looking to register its electoral presence in the Kerala assembly after winning its maiden lone seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and following it up with an impressive performance in the local body elections last year which included capturing control of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram for the first time.

While the party has emerged as the principal opposition in West Bengal over the last decade, it is only in Assam, that the BJP has a legacy presence. It has been in power in the state since 2016 and is now eying a third straight term riding chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s aggressive Hindutva politics who is going into the polls with high communal rhetoric, action against Bengali speaking Muslims in the state and infiltration from Bangladesh.

In Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, the BJP is yet to register a significant presence and is looking to ride on the shoulder of its allies. In Puducherry, while the electoral battle may be low stakes, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is hanging in the balance amid reports of a rift between the BJP and All India N.R. Congress (AINRC).

Assam, Kerala and Puducherry will vote on April 9; polling in Tamil Nadu will be held on April 23, and in West Bengal on April 23 and April 29. Results will be announced on May 4.

West Bengal remains the BJP’s long desired state, where it has worked over the last decade to........

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