As usual, roughly a third of the seats on the council will be contested, and such is the political make-up it is highly likely that the polls will result in no one party having overall control.
The Conservatives currently have 18 seats, Labour has 16, the Lib Dems 12, the BNP two and there is one Independent on the 49-member council, therefore 25 seats are required for a majority.
This year will see 17 seats contested - two of them in Boulsworth Ward, Colne, following the recent resignation of Coun. George Askew. His Conservative colleague Coun. Mike Calvert is also standing down.
There are no elections this year in the single-member wards of Blacko and Higherford, Foulridge, Old Laund Booth and Higham and Pendleside.
The Conservatives will defend six seats, Labour five and the Liberal Democrats four, while Coun. Adam Grant will defend one of the British National Party’s two seats in Marsden Ward, Nelson against the challenge of former council leader Azhar Ali and Conservative Thomas Cooney.
Independent Coun. Glenn Whittaker, who has represented Barnoldswick’s Craven Ward for the last four years, is not standing for re-election.
Three other councillors will also not be contesting the election - most notably council leader Coun. Mike Blomeley, who is standing down from his Reedley seat on health grounds. Former councillor Tonia Barton, who was defeated at the polls 12 months ago, will bid to hold on to the seat for the Tories.
Also standing down are Coun. Valerie Langtree (Earby) and Coun. Mohammed Khalid (Walverden).
The recently-formed East Lancashire branch of the Green Party will field candidates in Boulsworth, Bradley, Vivary Bridge and Waterside, the BNP is fielding three candidates and there are single candidates from the UK Independence Party, the English Democrats and the Democratic Nationalists.
A full list of candidates appears below. Councillors defending seats are denoted by an asterisk.
Barrowford: *Anthony James Beckett (Con.); Susan Frances Nike (Lab.).
Boulsworth: David Kenneth Foat (Lab.); Margaret Sarah Foxley (Con.); Heather Ann Greaves (LD); Rowen Barbara Anastazia Hartley-Fish (Green); Julian Marc Jordan (Lab.); John Paul McBeth (Con.); Peter John Rowe (BNP); Mary Elizabeth Thomas (LD).
Bradley: Shoaib Ahmed (LD); Timothy Eyre (Con.); Stuart Michael Oxbrow (Green); *Mohammad Sakib (Lab.).
Brierfield: *Naeem Hussain Ashraf (Lab.); Jack Steven Gregory (Con.).
Cloverhill: *Eileen Ansar (Lab.); Philip Alfred Berry (LD); Veronica Kathleen Cullen (BNP); Janice Taylor (Con.).
Coates: *Marjorie Adams (LD); Keith Bailey (Con.); Christopher John McKimm (LD).
Craven: Dorothy Baxter (UKIP); Kenneth Hartley (LD); David Phillip Johns (Lab.); Suzanne Margaret Langtree (Con.).
Earby: Rosemary Elizabeth Carroll (Con.); Doris June Haigh (LD); James Daniel Morris Jackman (Eng. Democrats); Robert Andrew Oliver (Lab.)
Horsfield: *Smith Alan Benson (Con.); Anthony Hargreaves (Lab.); James Edward Kerrigan (LD).
Marsden: Azhar Ali (Lab.); Thomas Anthony Cooney (Con.); *Adam Christopher Grant (BNP).
Reedley: Tonia Barton (Con.); Mohammed Hanif (Lab.); James Wood (LD).
Southfield: Abubaker Anwar (LD); Paul James Pratt (Con.); *Sheila Wicks (Lab.).
Vivary Bridge: *Glennda Louise Clegg (LD); Leah Katharine Jamieson (Green); Ian William Tweedie (Lab.); Keith Thomas Wilkinson (Con.).
Walverden: Abdul Aziz (Lab.); Neil McGowan (Con.).
Waterside: Ian Graham (Lab.); *Anthony Robert Greaves (LD); David Richard John Penney (Green); Geoffrey Riley (Con.); Gary Topping (Democratic Nationalists).
Whitefield: *Nadeem Ahmed (LD); Sajid Ali (Lab.); Margaret Ann Beckett (Con.).