Thursday, May 11 2006 11:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Coalitions appeared to be the flavour of the season as the results of the assembly polls in four states and Pondicherry started coming in today (May 11, 2006).

While it would be the seventh time that the CPI-M-led Left Front would romp home in West Bengal, another Left alliance appeared set to form government in Kerala by ousting a coalition led by the Congress.

In Assam, whichever party emerges as the single largest bloc will have to form a coalition as early trends indicate a fractured verdict in the state currently ruled by the Congress.

In tiny Pondicherry, early trends showed mixed results for the ruling Congress and the opposition AIADMK.

An interesting aspect in Tamil Nadu was that the opposition DMK and the ruling AIADMK were ahead in an equal number of about 60 seats, but the allies of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa were not making as many gains as the partners of Karunanidhi, who are leading in many seats.

Karunanidhi had earlier spoken of his readiness to forge a coalition, something that has never happened in the last 50 years during which the state was dominated by Dravidian politics.

However, towards the end of campaign, he had said there may be no need for a coalition as the DMK would get majority on its own.