India is going to elections in nine phases from 7 April to12 May 2014.
Post the polls, three veteran women politicians of the country-Jayalalithaa, Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati - are expected to play a vital role to form the next government in the event of the Congress and BJP-headed coalition fronts fail to win majority of seats.
Jayalaithaa and Mamata Banerjee are the present chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, respectively. Mayawati, who served four terms as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, is the head of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Of all three states, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of Lok Sabha seats - 80. Tamil Nadu, where Jayalalithaa's All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) is ruling, has 39 Lok Sabha seats. West Bengal, where Mamata-headed All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) is in power, has 42 Lok Sabha seats.
There are a total of 161 parliamentary constituencies and all three parties are contesting in all the constituencies in their respective states. They are expected to win a lion's share of the Lok Sabha seats in the ensuing elections.
Mamata Banerjee has already stated that she won't have any objection against Jayalalithaa or Mayawati becoming the next prime minister. In turn, the Tamil Nadu CM had a telephonic talk with Mamata discussing about the election scenario. It is staid that Mamata was happy over the break-up of AIADMK with CPI (M) in TN. They are reportedly mulling over a new front, other than the Mulayam Singh Yadav-involved Third Front in which Bihar chief mister Nitish Kumar is also looking forward to play a key role.
Such a scenario of new political front is also amicable for Mayawati, as she is averse to the Third Front, where her rival Mulayam Singh Yadav commands prominence. In the current Lok Sabha, Mayawati's BSP with 21 MPs is next to Mulayam's Samajwadi Party (SP) which has 22 members.There are chances of Mayawati likely to join hands with Jaya and Mamata to form a new front.
