Campaign ends for Phase-I of LS polls

Curtains came down today on an acrimonious campaign in 124 constituencies in 17 states for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls on April 16, with electioneering marked by a bitter war of words between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and hopeful L K Advani and joined by others.

RJD's Lalu Prasad, BJP's Murli Manohar Joshi, Telangana Rashtra Samiti's K Chandrasekhar Rao, Congress' Renuka Chowdhury, actress Vijayasanthi, NTR's daughter D Purandeswari and former Union Minister B Dattatreya are among the prominent names seeking election to the Lower House of Parliament in the first phase.

While all 20 seats in Kerala and two in Meghalaya would go to polls in a single phase on Thursday, polling would also be held in parts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir.The lone seats in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Mizoram and Nagaland would also be covered.

Prominent campaigners included Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP Prime Minister hopeful L K Advani, Congress youth icons Rahul and Priyanka, Gujarat Chief Minister Narednra Modi and Left party leaders Prakash Karat and A B Bardhan.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, recovering from a heart by-pass surgery in January, lent his bit to the Congress campaign when he went to Kerala and then to Mumbai. As the dust and din settled down, campaigners started moving house to house.

With Advani repeatedly taunting him as the "weakest" Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh hit back in equal measure yesterday saying the BJP's 'iron man' had "melted" during the Kandahar hijack crisis. Singh had also said Advani's only contribution in public life was the demolition of Babri Masjid.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi too retorted when BJP leaders resorted to name-calling.

The campaign saw Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi provoking the Congress, likening it to a 'budhiya' (an old woman) and later to a 'gudiya' (doll) after Priyanka asked whether she and her brother Rahul looked old to Modi.The 'budiya' comment drew strong reactions, with Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal, saying it shows how much the saffron party respects the elders although it itself has put up an 80-year-old as its prime ministerial candidate.

Priyanka herself had dismissed the importance attached to Modi's remarks, when she said: "I think it's a great pity that we waste so much time on this nonsense. There are big issues in front of us. There is development, economy and all sort of challenges and every responsible leader must discuss these challenges."

Earlier, the ruling JD(U) in Bihar had complained to the Election Commission that RJD leader Rabri Devi had made insulting remarks about Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Rabri Devi had said at a poll rally, "Lalan Singh is brother-in-law of Nitish...and Nitish is the brother-in-law of Lalan. That is why both of them are always seen holding each other's hands." Nitish and Lalan are not related but the description of brother-in-law was supposedly made in a derogatory manner.

A police case was then registered against Rabri after the matter was taken to the Election Commission.

But nothing compares to the sentiments whipped up by Varun Gandhi, who ran into trouble with the law after an alleged hate-speech in Pilibhit from where he has been nominated to contest the Lok Sabha polls.The Uttar Pradesh government invoked the National Security Act and arrested Varun.He agreed to give an undertaking to the Supreme Court that he will not make any provocative speeches during his Lok Sabha poll campaign, if granted bail. The case has been adjourned till April 16.

RJD President Lalu Prasad himself saw a police case being registered against him after he said he would crush Varun Gandhi under a "roller" for his alleged hate-speech.

A total number of 1,715 candidates, including 122 women, are in the fray in the first phase. A total of 4.31 crore people are eligible to exercise their franchise across 1.85 lakh polling stations.

The Election Commission will deploy 3,00,166 electronic voting machines in the first phase, which will involve over nine lakh polling staff - on an average five people per polling station, Deputy Election Commissioner R Balakrishnan told reporters. He said 1.25 lakh people have been booked as part of preventive measures to ensure free and fair elections.

Polling would also be held simultaneously for assemblies in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. In Andhra Pradesh, polling would be held in 154 of the 294 constituencies, while 70 out of the 140 assembly seats in Orissa would go to polls.

Polling would be held from 0700 hrs to 1700 hrs, but in Naxal affected areas polling would be held between 0700 hrs and 1500 hrs.