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Journalism of Courage
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 curfew8217;. 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.
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 curfew8217; on the final phase of polling on Tuesday demanding unconditional release of its leader Chandreswar Sharma. Sharma was arrested last November for AMSU8217;s alleged links with underground organisations. The AMSU has strongly denied the allegation.
