General Elections to Legislative Assemblies and bye-elections 2026

• Quinquennial general elections to five Legislative Assemblies — Assam, Kerala, Puducherry (UT), Tamil Nadu and West Bengal — plus bye-elections in 7 ACs across 5 states, conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) under Article 324.
• Politically pivotal: covers ~228 million electors and tests the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) enforcement architecture in border, coastal and LWE-sensitive states.
• UPSC relevance: ECI mandate, MCC, electoral expenditure ceilings, postal ballot reforms, ECINET, and federal coordination between ECI, Chief Secretaries, DGPs and Central enforcement agencies.