High-pitched campaign ends for first phase of Assam polls

The high-pitched canvassing by national and state leaders for the first phase of Assembly elections in Assam ended on Saturday evening after reaching a crescendo with last minute poll promises and allegations.

The state goes to polls in the first phase on April 4, in which 65 of the 126 assembly constituencies will go to the hustings.

The campaign was characterised by a no-holds barred tirade of allegations and counter-allegations and the Congress going all out to retain power for the fourth successive term.

The BJP-AGP-BPF alliance is attempting to wrest power while All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) claims to be the "king-maker" in the next government formation in Assam.

The political leaders on Saturday made last minute efforts to woo the 95,11,732 electorate, including 45,95,712 females, who will exercise their franchise in the first phase to decide the fate of 539 candidates, 496 males and 43 females, in the fray for the first phase in 50 constituencies of Brahmaputra Valley and 15 in Barak Valley.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the campaign from the front for the BJP-AGP-BPF alliance in the state along with party President Amit Shah and Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, Juel Oram and Sarbananda Sonowal, who is also the party's chief ministerial candidate.

For Congress, it was party President Sonia Gandhi, Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, state unit President Anjan Dutta along with former UPA ministers Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jairam Ramesh, Salman Khurshid among others who campaigned for its candidates.

The other prominent political party leaders who campaigned during the first phase included JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav for AIUDF, which has entered into an alliance with the JD(U) and (RJD), actor-turned-MP Raj Babbar of Congress and Manoj Tiwary of BJP and Congress spokesperson and President Pranab Mukherjee's daughter Sharmistha Mukherjee.