IMPHAL, FEBRUARY 20: Campaigning for the second and final phase Manipur Assembly elections in 32 of the 60 Assembly constituencies ended at 4 pm on Sunday.Official reports said that no untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the 32 constituencies which fall under four valley districts. However, the campaigning virtually ended on Saturday afternoon following opposition by the All Manipur Students Union which has 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 which, it said, was levelled by some people who wanted to destroy the body.District reports said candidates and their agents had stopped electioneering by using loud speakers, organising street corner or public meetings since Saturday afternoon. Several scheduled public meetings were also cancelled at the last minute. AnAMSU statement earlier had said that the students body would oppose election campaign from Saturday and also imposed `public curfew' on the polling day demanding its finance secretary Sharma's unconditional release.the AMSU refusal to accept the release of Sharma on bail and their proposed `public curfew' have caused serious concern among political leaders. They fear the `public curfew' may affect voter turnout on Tuesday.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 Prime Minister addressed a series of meetings at Ambala, Panipat and Palwal on Sunday afternoon. Other campaigners included Union Ministers L K Advani, Pramod Mahajan, Arun Jaitley and Chief Ministersof Jammu and Kashmir and Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, Farooq Abdullah, N Chandrababu Naidu and Parkash Singh Badal for INLD-BJP combine. Congress president Sonia Gandhi and BSP chief Kanshi Ram also campaigned for their respective candidates.
