Campaigning din drowns

Charanjit Singh Teja

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, December 15

The aggressive and noisy election campaign for MC elections ended after 5 pm here today. Now, candidates can’t organise any rally or election meeting till the day of elections on December 17.

On the last day of campaigning, most of the candidates organized roadshows to show their strength.

Several heavyweight political leaders, including Navjot Singh Sidhu, Minister for Local Boidies, Akali MLA Bikram Singh Majithia, MLA Raj Kumar Verka, MLA Sunil Dutti and former minister Anil Joshi were seen leading the roadshows to support their party candidates in various areas.

All the auto-rickshaws, ‘dholis’ and rickshaws with loudspeakers rickshaws got off the roads in the evening. Now, the candidates will conduct door-to-door campaigns and small meetings.

The Municipal Corporation election campaign had started on December 8 after the district electoral officer issued the final list of candidates. The aspirants and political parties got only one week for the election campaign. The candidates spent lakhs of rupees on the publicity material in one week. A large number of flags, posters and flex boards were being displayed during the past one week. They made every effort to woo the voters.

The candidates and their supporters also burnt the midnight oil for success. They were seen moving in the streets till late night. Several candidates organized ‘Jaggo’ to attract the voters in their respective areas.

Surinder Singh, a candidate, said, “There was too little time to reach out to the voters. You can’t visit 10,000 voters in one week. We made every effort to meet the voters and request them to vote. Now, we have only one day and we will try to meet the voters by conducting door-to-door campaigns”.