Campaigning ends in 222 LS seats, Meghalaya and Tripura assembly segments
Electioneering ended at 1700 hours on Saturday in
222 Lok Sabha constituencies that go to the polls on Monday after a hectic
last round of political rallies.
Campaigning also closed for the simultaneous assembly elections
in Meghalaya and Tripura on February 16.
The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements for the
smooth conduct of the first phase of polling, ensuring deployment of
additional security forces in states affected by pre-poll violence.
At stake in the campaigning, which remained low-key despite a
three-fold increase in the poll expenditure limit, are the fortunes
of about 2,200 candidates.
The by-and-large peaceful electioneering, save the violence in
Tripura and Assam which left 21 people dead, was spearheaded by
Sonia Gandhi for the Congress and A B Vajpayee and L K
Advani for the BJP, touring across the country. On the contrary,
United Front leaders mostly confined themselves to campaigning
within their respective states.
A new feature of electioneering was the extensive coverage by private
television channels, of public meetings addressed by top political
leaders.
However, banners, graffiti and cutouts once closely associated
with elections, were a rare sight this time round due to the strict
guidelines enforced by the Election Commission.
The Commission had also prohibited blaring of speakers beyond the
permissible decibel level, rendering this form of canvassing quite
ineffective.
Added to all this was an apparent lack of interest among the
voters, faced with a second election within two years.
Elections to the 543 elective seats of the Lok Sabha are being
held in five phases, along with assembly polls in five states and
byelection in 22 Vidhan Sabha constituencies spread over nine
states and Union territories.
The polling dates are February 16 (covering 222 Lok Sabha seats),
22 (184 seats), 23 (two seats), 28 (130 seats) and March 7
(three seats).
Counting will begin on March 2 in 534 parliamentary
constituencies. In other places it will be taken up on various dates
-- for the two seats from Meghalaya on February 23, for five seats
from Jammu and Kashmir on March 8 and 9 and in the Mandi and
Ladakh constituencies, where polling has been postponed to June 21,
on June 25.
Among the Lok Sabha constituencies where electioneering will end
are Jalandhar (where Prime Minister I K Gujral is contesting),
Gurdaspur (film star Vinod Khanna), Madhepura (former Bihar chief
minister Laloo Prasad Yadav and Janata Dal president Sharad Yadav)
Hassan (former prime minister H D Deve Gowda), Rohtak (former deputy
prime minister Devi Lal).
The other constituencies include Tura (speaker of the dissolved
house P A Sangma), Dausa (former Union minister Rajesh Pilot),
Saharanpur (Bahujan Samaj Party chief Kanshi Ram), Akbarpur (former
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati), Ballia (former prime
minister Chandra Shekhar), Allahabad (BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi),
Baghpat (Bharatiya Kisan Kamgar Party chief Ajit Singh), South Delhi
(BJP spokesperson Sushma Swaraj) and Jammu (Chief Minister Farooq
Abdullah's son Umer Farooq).
The February 16 ballot will cover, besides Tripura and
Meghalaya (two seats each), all the Lok Sabha seats from Rajasthan
(25), Assam (14), Punjab (13), Haryana (10), Delhi (7), Manipur and
Arunachal Pradesh (two each) and Sikkim, Andaman and Nicobar
Islands, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep and Dadra and Nagar Haveli (one
each) and the Jammu seat.
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh
will have polling spread over two days, on February 16 and 22.
Twentyone of the 42 Lok Sabha seats from Andhra Pradesh, 34 of
the 54 from Bihar, 18 of the 28 from Karnataka, 14 of the 39 from
Tamil Nadu and 52 of the 85 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will go
to polls in the first phase and the rest in the second on
February 22.
Though the candidates began their campaign after nominations
opened on January 20, their parties started electioneering shortly
after the fall the UF government following withdrawal of Congress
support.
Sonia Gandhi launched her party's campaign on January 11 from
Sriperumbudur, where her husband, former prime minister Rajiv
Gandhi was killed in a bomb blast on May 21, 1991.
Since then she has addressed more than 50 rallies across the
country, mainly highlighting the sacrifices made by the Nehru-Gandhi
family.
She also apologised for the Babri Masjid demolition and
Operation Bluestar.
The response she received from the public, which
thronged her meetings in thousands, has forced even the BJP to
admit that her presence had changed the poll scenario.
UNI
Lok Sabha constituencies going to the polls on Monday
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