The Election Commission will announce the dates for assembly polls in five states at 3.30 pm Saturday.
The poll body has convened a press conference in which it will declare the schedule for the polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, Punjab and Manipur.
While the term of the current Uttar Pradesh assembly is ending in May, those of the other four assemblies are ending on different dates in March.
The election in Punjab and Uttar Pradesh will be keenly followed, with Congress fighting to retain control of one of the few states it rules outright.
The UP election is viewed as critical for the BJP, which is under pressure there following the Yogi Adityanath government's handling of the Covid pandemic and the emergence of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav as a serious challenger.
The UP election is also an indicator of how the BJP might perform in the 2024 general election. The state's Assembly has 403 seats, and the state also sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha - the most of any state.
Among the other states voting in February and March is Goa, where the BJP is facing anti-incumbency and challenges from the Aam Aadmi Party and the Trinamool Congress, in addition to the Congress.
