Kolkata: Millions of people will vote in West Bengal today as part of elections in five states whose results could further strain ties between India's left and the national ruling coalition it backs.
The communists are fighting the Congress party, which heads the federal government, in three states including West Bengal in the east of the country where they are expected to win power for the seventh straight time since 1977.
In the south, the left parties are hoping to take power from a Congress government in Kerala, while in the remote northeastern state of Assam, the left is the junior partner to a regional party which is trying to oust a Congress administration.
Left leaders and analysts say victories in Kerala and West Bengal would be used by the communists to wield more influence on the economic and foreign policies of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government in New Delhi.
"We have been pursuing a course of action where we can intervene with the UPA Government," Prakash Karat, the head of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), told Reuters in an interview this month.
"With an endorsement from Kerala and West Bengal, we can argue our case better and our arguments will have more weight."
He warned that his party would look at reviewing its support to the UPA after the elections.
All the polls are being held in several stages with counting due on May 11. Voting in Assam is already over.
The CPM and smaller left parties have 61 lawmakers in the 545-member lower house of parliament and shore up the minority UPA Government.
But they have clashed with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as he pursues economic reforms and a US-friendly foreign policy.
Analysts say reforms to further open up India's economy particularly in the insurance, pension and retail sectors could suffer if the left does well and the Congress poorly.
