The battle line seems to be drawn for the forthcoming Assembly election.

While the MPP is poised to give a good fight to the Congress in the valley areas of the State, in the Naga inhabited areas of 11 Assembly Constituencies, the fight will be between the candidates backed by the United Naga Council and the Congress candidates.

While the outcome of the polls is anyone's guess and it would be premature to indulge in crystal ball gazing exercise at this point of time it is nonetheless clear that the Congress party is the party to beat in the valley as well as the hill districts, particularly in the Naga inhabited districts.

While the Congress has managed to announce the names of the candidates for all the 60 Assembly segments of the State, the UNC has till date announced the names of six candidates which it would back in the elections.

That the UNC would take a keen interest in the forthcoming election was known to all, but what has come as something of a surprise are the candidates which it has decided to back.

Save for Kho John in Mao Assembly Constituency and RV Shirang in Karong Assembly Constituency, the other four are all tried and tested candidates.

Danny Shaiza was an MLA representing Ukhrul Assembly Constituency just the other day before he resigned from the House. Dr Khashim Ruivah has already been elected once from Chingai Assembly Constituency as a candidate of the FPM and even went on to become a Minister during the time of the Nipamacha led Government.

Like Danny Shaiza, Wungnaoshang Keishing too was an MLA from Phungyar Assembly segment before his resignation while K Raina has also been elected earlier from Tadubi AC as a FPM candidate.

It is difficult to say what UNC sees in the four tried and tested candidates and while we leave the decision to elect them or not to the electorate, it is significant to note that the actors are still the same, though the script may be fresh.

It remains to be seen how the tried and tested actors manage to fit into the new script penned by the UNC and other Naga bodies.

In the valley area, the MPP is no doubt a new and rejuvenated political party, with a number of formidable names in its list, such as RK Dorendra and Th Chaoba, just to pick up two names at random.

However just like the UNC backed candidates, the majority of the candidates announced by the MPP are all tried and tested with the exception of some personality like former VC of Manipur University Dr Ng Bijoy from Khurai Assembly Constituency.

Again like the UNC backed candidates, though the candidates may be the same, the script this time appears to be different for the MPP too and it will be interesting to see how the veteran political figures in the MPP manage to act out their part which the new script will demand in the long run.

Already the MPP has launched a high decibel, albeit rhetoric campaign, playing to the gallery by whipping up a number of emotive issues like AFSPA and Irom Sharmila Chanu.

How the Congress manage to neutralise the onslaught of the MPP and the UNC backed candidates in the hills, will be the most interesting part of the 9th Assembly election.