Sunday, February 13 2005 18:01 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Patna/Ranchi: The din and bustle of over fortnight-long high-voltage campaigning for the second and penultimate phase of Assembly polls in Bihar and Jharkhand ended this evening (Feb 13, 2005) with candidates and their supporters fanning out door-to-door to woo voters.

Authorities beefed up security to ensure peaceful balloting for 83 constituencies in Bihar and 29 in Jharkhand, which is witnessing its maiden Assembly polls after its birth in 2000.

As the no-holds-barred electioneering reached its crescendo, a galaxy of political stars, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) veterans Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani, SP (Samajwadi Party) president Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) supremo Mayawati, criss-crossed constituencies to garner votes for their party candidates.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made his appearance in the electioneering in Jharkhand by addressing a rally in the industrial town of Jameshedpur this afternoon.

Amidst controversy over screening of CDs on Gujarat riots in some districts in Bihar, around 1.8 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 1014 candidates.

An estimated 58,44,049 voters will seal the fate of 456 candidates in Jharkhand where naxalites have given a poll boycott call.

While all eyes are riveted on Kharsawan seat in Jharkhand where Chief Minister Arjun Munda is contesting, notable contestants for the second leg in Bihar include State RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal) chief Abdul Bari Siddiqui and Ministers Pitambar Paswan, Ashok Singh and Shakuni Choudhary, belonging to the ruling RJD.

With ruling parties in Bihar and Jharkhand facing tough electoral battles, opinion polls predicted hung Assemblies in both the States.

Display of posters and screening of CDs on Gujarat riots in Kishanganj and Purnea districts in Bihar, seeking votes for the ruling party, sparked fresh controversies with the Election Commission issuing notice to the RJD asking it explain the 'factual position' on the CD episode.

RJD supremo Laloo Prasad and his Chief Minister wife Rabri Devi made whistle stop tours of constituencies to woo voters in the battle said to be decisive for the future of Bihar.

In an apparent reflection of her party's uneasy relations with RJD, Sonia Gandhi, addressing a string of election meetings, voiced concern over the law and order situation in Bihar.

She said Congress would work for the formation of an alternative Government in the State after the polls.

The Congress is locked in friendly fights with the RJD in many of the 243 constituencies in the State where it is having a tie-up with Ramvilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP).

NDA (National Democratic Alliance) leaders, including Vajpayee, Advani and George Fernandes, asked voters to dislodge the RJD dispensation, which they alleged, had unleashed a "reign of terror, anarchy, chaos and corruption during its 15-year misrule".

Paswan and Mulayam Singh Yadav too targeted the RJD Government for ills in Bihar.