The stage is set for assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura on Wednesday.

Balloting will be held for 65 constituencies in Himachal and 60 each in the other states.

Polling for three snow-bound constituencies in Himachal Pradesh -- Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur and Pangi Bharmaur -- will be held on June 8.

More than 8.31 million voters are eligible to exercise their franchise, which will decide the fate of four chief ministers, Prem Kumar Dhumal [Himachal Pradesh], S C Jamir [Nagaland], Flinder Anderson Khonglam [Meghalaya] and Manik Sarkar [Tripura], and others

In Himachal Pradesh, an electorate of 4,101,093 will decide the fate of 391 candidates. Prominent among them are Dhumal, former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, speaker of the dissolved assembly Ghulam Singh Thakur, state BJP president Jai Krishen Sharma and Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Vidya Stokes.

The BJP and Congress are contesting all the 68 seats, HVC 45, former Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party in 30, the Bahujan Samaj Party 23, the Samajwadi Party 19, the Nationalist Congress Party 15, the Communist Party of India seven and the CPI-Marxist four.

The Himachal Vikas Congress of former Union minister Sukh Ram, a post-poll ally of the BJP in the last five years, hopes to play a crucial role again after the elections.

The BJP and Congress are faced with rebels who may diminish the prospects of their official candidates.

Four BJP members, including Ram Dass Malangar, deputy speaker and the former agriculture minister Vidya Sagar, who were denied party tickets, are contesting as independents against the party candidates.

As many as 548 polling booths have been described hypersensitive and 1018 sensitive.

In Nagaland, most constituencies are likely to witness a very close contest.

Over a million voters are expected to decide the fate of 225 candidates.

Among the prominent candidates are S C Jamir, former chief minister Hokishe Sema of the BJP, K L Chishi of the Nagaland

Democratic Party and Congress defector and former state home minister Neiphiu Rio.

The ruling Congress has fielded candidates in all the 60 seats, the Nagaland People's Front in 55, the BJP in 36, the Janata Dal-United in seven and the Nationalist Democratic Movement in 22 seats.

Jamir is pitted against the combined opposition candidate Chabala Ao, wife of the first chief minister of Nagaland P Shilo Ao, in the prestigious Aonglenden seat.

Sema is facing a tough fight from his Congress rival Kevi Zakiesatuo in Dimapur-1 constituency.

A thick security blanket has been thrown across the state and night curfew clamped in Kohima district to ensure peaceful polls.

In Meghalaya, over 12 lakh voters are expected to cast their ballots to decide the fortunes of 333 aspirants.

Chief Minister Khonglam, who is contesting under the banner of the Hill State People's Democratic Party, is locked in a five-cornered contest from Sohra.

Two former chief ministers, S C Marak [Congress] and E K Mawlong [United Democratic Party] are facing straight contests in Resubelpara and Umroi constituencies respectively.

In Tripura, Chief Minister Manik Sarkar [Dhanpur] and two former chief ministers, Sudhir Ranjan Majumder and Samir Ranjan Burman, are among the 254 candidates in fray.

A total of 2,372 polling stations have been set up and out of these 124 have been identified as hypersensitive and 343 very sensitive.

The CPI-M alone is contesting 55 seats, the CPI two, the All India Forward Bloc one and the Revolutionary Socialist Party two.

Counting will be held on March 1.

The term of the present assembly in Himachal Pradesh is due to expire on March 11, Meghalaya on March 8 and Nagaland and Tripura on March 22.

Simultaneously, by-elections will be held in eight assembly constituencies -- two in Uttar Pradesh [Gauriganj and Haidergarh] and one each in Jammu and Kashmir [Pampore], Tamil Nadu [Sattankulam]), Karnataka [Humnabad], Maharashtra [Bhokarden] and Assam [Ratabari].

In Sattankulam, the main fight is between the Congress and the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

The vacancy was caused by the death of now defunct Tamil Maanila Congress legislator, Mani Nadar.

While the BJP on January 30 decided not to contest the poll, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Pattali Makkal Katchi decided to boycott the elections apprehending large-scale misuse of official machinery.

The ruling party has put up L Neelamegavarnam and the Congress has fielded A Mahendran. The JD-U has fielded S Sundarapandian.

The Pampore constituency in J&K fell vacant following the killing of Peoples Democratic Party member Abdul Aziz Mir last year.

The main contestants in the fray are from the ruling PDP and the National Conference.

Of the two bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, the one in Haidergarh was necessitated by the resignation of former chief minister Rajnath Singh after his election to the Rajya Sabha, while Noor Mohammed's death left the Gauriganj seat vacant.

Bypolls in Humnabad, Karnataka, was ordered as the election of sitting member Subash Kallur was declared void. Polling in Poriyahat, Jharkhand, was necessitated following the resignation of Pradeep Yadav.

The bypoll in Ratabari assembly constituency in Assam was caused due to the death of independent MLA Rathish Ranjan Choudhury.