Dehra Dun: Electioneering outdoor for the
January 30 assembly poll in Uttarakhand on Saturday came to an end
after which candidates switched over to door-to-door campaign
in a last-minute attempt to woo voters.
A total of 788 candidates are trying their luck from 70
constituencies in the state where over 63 lakh electorates
are expected to exercise their franchise on Monday.
Electioneering picked up towards the fag end as bad
weather hampered the movement of national leaders during the
early phase of campaign. BJP President Nitin Gadkari and some
other leaders` visits were also cancelled due to the inclement
weather.
During the electioneering, Congress had attacked BJP on
changing chief ministers frequently to cover up its alleged
scams and asked the people to vote on development plank.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi tried to puncture
the campaign of BJP "Khanduri (incumbent chief minister B C
Khanduri) hai zaroori" by stating why he was removed in 2009
if he was so important.
Ruling BJP highlighted scams relating to 2G spectrum
allocation, Commonwealth Games and Adarsha Housing Society in
a bid to nail down Congress and asked the people to vote for
the party for showing its commitment to weeding out corruption
by bringing a strong Lokayukta bill.
The star campaigners from BJP and Congress also
crisscrossed the hill state during the fortnight-long
electioneering.
Chief Minister BC Khanduri addressed nearly two dozen
rallies across the state during the past four to five days.
During his meetings, Khanduri had raked up emotive
issues including the Muzaffarnagar massacre during Mulayam
Singh Yadav government in 1994. "You all know who were
the perpetrators of the Muzaffarnagar incident.” You also know
that it was only BJP which formed the new state of
Uttarakhand," Khanduri had said.
With the Election Commission cracking down on use of
money power, the cacophony of the electioneering was missing
this time with candidates shunning big shows of strength.
PTI
