Guwahati, April 01: The campaigning for the 65 assembly constituencies in Assam, which goes to polls in the first phase on April three to decide the fate of 545 candidates, ended today.

The campaign for the elections began on a low-key as all parties were caught unaware with the announcement of the poll dates which they thought would be after the spring festival of Bihu.

Later, however, it gathered momentum and there was a virtual blitzkrieg of national political leaders, film and television stars who descended on Assam to campaign for candidates of various parties.

Last minute campaigning was on full-swing today with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressing two rallies while other parties were engaged in holding election meetings and going door to door in their constituencies to canvas for votes.

Among the candidates, there are 505 male and forty female candidates and these include 65 are from BJP, 64 from Congress, 54 from AGP, 25 from NCP and eight each from CPI and CPI (M).

In a clear departure from earlier elections, campaigning was marked this time by lack of violence though 300 additional companies of central forces have already arrived and deployed near the polling booths for both phases of polls.

Besides, the Assam police battalion personnel have been already deployed near vital public installations as OIL and railway tracks.

The army, however, would not be specifically used for poll work but deployed in vulnerable areas.

Among the prominent candidates who are in the fray in the first phase are Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Speaker Prithvi Majhi and Assam Pradesh Congress Committee President Bhubaneswar Kalita.

The contest in the state is mainly between the three major parties�the ruling Congress, AGP and BJP with all parties bringing in large contingent from various fields to campaign for their respective candidates.

The prominent leaders to campaign for Congress are Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, party President Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Union Minister for Water Resources Priyaranjan Das Munshi and Minorities Development Minister AR Antulay.

The BJP had the highest number of leaders campaigning for its candidates with former Dy PM LK Advani and party chief Rajnath Singh being the prominent faces.

Actress Hema Malini, television stars Smriti Irani and Gajendra Chauhan and cricketer turned politician Navjot Sidhu also campaigned for the party in the state.

The opposition AGP had to be satisfied with Jaya Bachchan and Jaya Prada among the stars.

Meanwhile, the banned ULFA outfit has appealed to the people of Assam to vote for the party that promises to solve the state's political conflict.

ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa said in a statement e-mailed to the local media that political conflict was the main problem faced by the state and this problem must be on the top agenda of all political parties.

He said the Cong had promised that within 5 years it would resolve the problems facing the state.

The same promise was made by the AGP in the run up to the 1996 polls.

"However, after they assumed power, the AGP denied making any such promise and they followed up their win by launching both open and secret killings in the state," he said.

People should vote for those politicians who would ensure that problems of the state were resolved, Rajkhowa added.

Comment