Kerala, Assam and Puducherry will go to polls first on April 9 while Tamil Nadu will vote on April 23.

Polling in West Bengal is scheduled for April 23 for 152 seats and on April 29 for 142 seats.

A total of 17.4 crore voters are eligible to vote in the elections to the five Assemblies with 824 constituencies.

The results of all four States and the Union Territory of Puducherry will be known on May 4.

Prior to the Assembly election results, however, all eyes will be on the exit polls.

Exit polls are voter surveys that any news organisation and independent agency undertakes after voting has been concluded to gauge the mood of the people and understand who is likely to emerge as a winner.

The exit polls provide broad information about how votes were cast in the election, the voting pattern and thereby help in forecasting the winners. Although exit polls are not completely reliable, they can help in understanding the rough estimation before the actual results are declared. They give the electorate as well as the parties some idea about what is to follow post voting.

When are the exit polls for the Assembly elections in 2026?

Section 126A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, prohibits conducting, publishing, or disseminating exit polls during a notified period, running from the start of the first phase of polling until 30 minutes after the last phase concludes. Violations can result in up to two years imprisonment and/or a fine.

The strict ban on publication, dissemination, or broadcast of any findings until 30 minutes after the final phase of polling concludes is imposed to ensure that preliminary trends from early phases do not influence voters in subsequent phases.

This means that results of the exit polls for the Assembly elections in 2026 will be known 30 minutes after the conclusion of polling on April 29.