NEW DELHI, FEB 20: Campaigning for the final phase of February 22 Assembly elections to 307 constituencies spread over Bihar, Haryana, Manipur and Orissa ended on Sunday evening.While campaigning was by and large peaceful in all four states, it came to an abrupt end in Manipur on Saturday following opposition by All Manipur Students Union which imposed a `public curfew'. In Bihar, having a three-phase poll for the 324-member house, around 1.98 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the final phase to decide the fate of 1,326 candidates. Polling has already been held for 108 seats on February 12 and equal number of constituencies on February 17. Among prominent contestants are former union minister of state for home Taslimuddin, a host of ministers in the Rabri Devi Cabinet and several senior BJP leaders. Top leaders including Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, Union Minister L K Advani, Congress president Sonia Gandhi criss-crossed various constituencies in the state. In Orissa, battle lineshave been drawn between ruling Congress and BJP-BJD combine as the campaign ended for 77 of the 147 Assembly seats going to polls for the second and final phase. An estimated 1.30 crore voters, mostly in politically sensitive coastal region, are eligible to cast their franchise. Poll for first phase was held on February 17.There are 484 candidates including 32 women in the fray. Despite visits by political heavyweights including the PM, Gandhi and several film personalities, the two-week long campaign was "dull and insipid" due to after-effects of the cyclone in the coastal belt. In Haryana 971 candidates, including Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and two former chief ministers Bansi Lal and Bhajan Lal, have thrown their hats in the ring for the 90 Assembly seats. Sixty three members of the dissolved house are contesting with 50 having the same party affiliation as in 1996 while 13 have changed their party affiliations following denial of renominations.The PM addressed a series of meetings at Ambala,Panipat and Palwal on Sunday. Other campaigners included L K Advani, Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley, Farooq Abdullah, N Chandrababu Naidu and Parkash Singh Badal for INLD-BJP combine. Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and BSP chief Kanshi Ram also campaigned for their respective candidates.In the northeast state of Manipur, campaigning for 32 constituencies, which fall under four valley districts, virtually ended on Saturday after AMSU imposed a `public curfew' on the final phase of polling on Tuesday demanding unconditional release of its leader Chandreswar Sharma. Sharma was arrested last November for AMSU's alleged links with underground organisations. The AMSU has strongly denied the allegation.
