Ahmedabad: Curtains came down on December 10 evening on an acrimonious campaign for
the fiercely contested Assembly elections in Gujarat on December 12, considered a
watershed in national politics, with the main parties, the Bharatiya Janata party
and the Congress, making last minute bid to woo voters.
With hardly 36 hours left for the polling to begin, supporters of the rival parties
fanned out on a door-to-door campaign across the 25 districts after their star
campaigners led from the front in elections to all but one of the 182
assembly seats.
Election to the Surat City (West) Assembly seat has been countermanded following the
death of Law Minister Hemant Chapatwala.
Counting of votes to be polled in electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be held on
December 15.
The campaign held in the backdrop of the Godhra train massacre and the subsequent
communal violence that left over 800 dead, was by and large peaceful barring a
couple of attacks against candidates in rival group clashes.
The Godhra massacre cast its shadow in the rallies addressed by BJP's mascot and
Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who targeted Congress and its president Sonia Gandhi
accusing them of appeasing minorities.
Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who consciously avoided reference to Godhra,
and Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and a host of others, beefed up BJP’s
campaign.
Sonia Gandhi concentrated on Narendra Modi's 'misrule' and his government's handling
of the communal violence. She said Modi and BJP were seeking to retain power through
a campaign of hate and divisions in society.
The cine stars of yesteryears also jumped into the din of electioneering pitching
for their candidates in Gujarat. Hema Malini, Reena Roy, actor turned politicians
Vinod Khanna, Sunil Dutt and Shatrughan Sinha, lent glamour to the campaign.
A nine-year-old girl Janki Gadhvi, daughter of a senior Congress worker Geeta Gadhvi
from Gandhinagar stole the show at Sonia Gandhi's rally at Mehsana on December 8 by
her fiery speech demanding answers to "What 'gaurav' Narendra Modi was boasting of",
while referring to the various issues including the recent communal disturbances.
The campaigning suddenly came alive with Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Laloo Prasad
Yadav making 'mockery' of Modi much to the enthrallment of the audience.
"I can go to any party except BJP," Laloo said appealing to the voters not to vote
for 'Kansa of Mahabarata Modi' in the December 12 Polls. He cautioned the people
against the Sangh Parivar for its 'hatred policies' fanning communal frenzy.
Punjab Chief Minister Amrinder Singh, taking advantage of Guru Gobind Singh's
Martyrs day on December 8, visited a Gurdwara in the city and asked "Sikhs and
Punjabi community" to support Congress in the election.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati air-dashed to Surat to address a rally with
the Prime Minister garnering Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) votes for the BJP to counter
Ram Vilas Paswan, who appeal to the dalits and backwards to support Congress.
A total of 3.28 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise at the more
than 37,000 polling stations.
As many as 14,707 polling stations in 22 out of 25 districts have been declared as
sensitive by the Election Commission with police directed to make arrangements to
ensure free and fair poll.
Security was reinforced with the deployment of nearly 400 companies of central
paramilitary forces as the personnel kept a hawk's eye on sensitive areas,
especially in minority pockets. Over 55,000 security personnel were deployed in
sensitive areas alone.
Nearly 1,000 candidates including 32 women contestants are in the fray with a
majority of the 181 constituencies witnessing a straight contest between BJP and the
Congress.
Simultaneously campaigning also ended for byelections to three Lok Sabha seats of
Mehsana (Gujarat), Godda (Jharkhand) and Nainital (Uttaranchal) and assembly seats
of Daporiji (Arunachal Pradesh), Khumtai (Assam), Bansur, Sagwar and Bali
(Rajasthan).
PTI
