Poll din for 145 seats ends
Fate of Sonia, Advani, Sukhbir to be sealed on Sunday

NEW DELHI, Sept 3 (PTI, UNI) — With a final burst of activity, compaigning for the first phase of polling on September 5 in 145 Lok Sabha constituencies spread over 16 states and union territories and 343 Assembly seats, at times marked by acrimonious personal attacks, ended this evening.

Polling for the first phase will be held for 12 constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, two each in Goa and Jammu and Kashmir, 26 in Gujarat, 10 in Haryana, 15 in Karnataka, 24 in Maharashtra, 13 in Punjab, 10 in Rajasthan, 19 in Tamil Nadu, seven in Delhi, one each in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Pondicherry.

Simultaneous polling will be held for 84 Assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, 144 in Maharashtra and 115 in Karnataka.

Over 15 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of 966 candidates including Congress President Sonia Gandhi, senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Sushma Swaraj, (both Bellary), Union Home Minister L.K. Advani and former Chief Election Commissioner T.N. Seshan (both Gandhinagar), Union Ministers Ananth Kumar (Bangalore south), Surjit Singh Barnala (Sangrur), Sukhbir Singh Badal (Faridkot) and Jagmohan (South Delhi).

Other prominent candidates in the fray are former Finance Ministers P. Chidambaram (Sivaganga), Dr Manmohan Singh (South Delhi), former Delhi Chief Ministers Sahib Singh Verma and Madal Lal Khurana from outer Delhi and Delhi Sadar, respectively, and former Lok Sabha Speaker Shivraj Patil (Latur).

The campaign for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance was spearheaded by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and for the Congress by its President Sonia Gandhi, who is for the first time contesting the Lok Sabha elections.

Canvassing was by and large peaceful, save some sporadic incidents of violence in Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Polling was rescheduled for October 3 in Narasaraopet, Andhra Pradesh, following a bomb blast at the residence of Panchayat Minister Kodela Siva Rao that killed four persons, including an independent candidate.

During campaigning, the nation’s focus was on Bellary where Mrs Gandhi’s maiden bid to enter the Lok Sabha is challenged by BJP spokesperson Sushma Swaraj.

Electronic voting machines will be used for the first time in 46 parliamentary constituencies in 17 states and union territories in the five-phased election. Counting of votes will be taken up on October 6 and the process will be completed by October 10.

The second phase of polling is scheduled for September 11.

Campaigning for the seven seats in Delhi where former Chief Ministers Madan Lal Khurana and Sahib Singh Verma, Union Urban Affairs Minister Jagmohan, former Union Finance Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Working Committee members R.K. Dhawan and Meira Kumar, was enlivened by Bollywood glamour.