For Maharashtra's 288 seats, the BJP is continuing its alliance with Shiv Sena, despite their rocky relationship over the last five years. The BJP is contesting on 150 seats, the Shiv Sena on 124 seats, the rest are for smaller allies. In the opposition camp, the Congress is contesting 146 seats, the Nationalist Congress Party on 117 seats. The Sena-BJP alliance currently holds 217 seats, the Congress and the NCP 56 seats.

Voting was also held in 51 assembly seats spread across 17 states. The BJP and its allies held nearly 30 of these seats, while the Congress won 12. The rest were with regional parties. Uttar Pradesh is seeing a mini assembly election of sorts, with bypolls on 11 seats,

The other states where bypolls will be held are Gujarat (6 seats), Bihar (5 seats), Assam and Punjab (4 seats each), Kerala (5 seats), Sikkim (3 seats), Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu (2 seats each) and one seat each in Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Puducherry, Meghalaya and Telangana.

Under the seat sharing agreement between Maharashtra's ruling alliance, the BJP will get the top post and Uddhav Thackeray's party will get the deputy Chief Minister's post. The BJP has announced that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis would continue to helm the government.

For Mr Fadnavis's deputy, the Sena's choice is likely to be Uddhav Thackeray's 29-year-old son Aaditya Thackeray. Thackeray Senior, however, has played down the possibility, saying a politician doesn't get the top job after taking "the first step in politics".

Aaditya Thackeray is the first in his family to contest elections in the five decades since his grandfather Bal Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena. He is likely to get a walkover in Worli - a Sena stronghold where the opposition candidate, the NCP's Sachin Ahir, crossed over recently.

In Haryana, the ruling BJP is locked in contest with the Congress and the fledgling JJP (Jannayak Janta Party) for the 90 assembly seats. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has set a target of 75 of 90 assembly seats. Last time, the BJP won 48 seats, the Congress 17.

The Dushyant Chautala-led JJP, a breakaway faction of Om Prakash Chautala's Indian National Lok Dal, is hoping for an improvement in its prospects following its poor show in the Lok Sabha elections. The party was formed after a feud in the Chautala clan in December.

For this round of state election, the BJP, instead of focusing on local issues, has built its campaign on national issues like the end to special status in Jammu and Kashmir and the National Register of Citizens, which the centre wants to take across the country.