While polling would take place on February 13, the results are expected on February 27 after elections in Uttaranchal and Manipur are completed.
CHANDIGARH: Campaigning in Punjab for the forthcoming Assembly elections came to an end on Sunday with the Akali Dal-BJP alliance enjoying a clear edge over the ruling Congress.While polling would take place on February 13, the results are expected on February 27 after elections in Uttaranchal and Manipur are completed.
The Congress campaign remained haphazard, lacking aggression of a party which would like to retain power. The party wasted more than three weeks to decide on its candidates and could hardly put its acts together in the last fortnight.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee wound up the Akali Dal-BJP campaign on Saturday addressing a massive public meeting in Amritsar on a rainy day. AICC president Sonia Gandhi cancelled her last two public meetings, at Sirhind and Rampura Phul, CM Amarinder Singh’s native place due to rain.
In the last leg of campaigning, both Vajpayee and leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha LK Advani, sought to lambast PM Manmohan Singh for raising a bogey of fear of revival of militancy in Punjab in case the Akalis were voted to power.
“The prime minister is resorting to sensational politics, which borders on threatening to create law and order problems in Punjab”, said Vajpayee. The Congress leaders in the state had been banking on the Sonia-Manmohan duo to galvanise the party workers in the run-up to the election. Both failed to provide necessary impetus to the party campaign. Haryana CM Bhupinder Hooda and Delhi CM Sheila Dixit were the other partymen who campaigned for Congress.
The election campaign of the Akali Dal-BJP alliance, on the other hand, was joined by star campaigners like BJP president Rajnath Singh, leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha LK Advani, Gujarat CM Narinder Modi, besides filmstars like Hema Malini, Shatrughan Sinha and televion star Smriti Irani.
Former Haryana CM Om Parkash Chautala also worked overtime for at least one week to lend support to the Akali Dal candidates whose constituencies bordered Haryana.
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