Campaigning for Assembly polls end

The high-pitch campaign ended on Sunday in Maharashtra for the October 13 Assembly elections which saw Shiv Sena and MNS fighting for the same political space and the ruling Congress-NCP aiming a hat-trick.

Chandigarh: The high-pitch campaign ended on Sunday in Maharashtra for the October 13 Assembly elections which saw Shiv Sena and MNS fighting for the same political space and the ruling Congress-NCP aiming a hat-trick.
An electorate of 7,56,34,525 will decide the fate of 3,559 candidates, including 211 women. There are 1,820 independents, mostly rebels, in fray.

The State goes to polls on Tuesday under the shadow of the gruesome Naxal attack in Gadchiroli district where 17 policemen were killed in an ambush.

Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) which polled over 12 lakh votes in the Lok Sabha elections in Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nashik, is seen as a major factor likely to influence the State politics.

Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, who toured the State highlighting suicides by farmers and the government’s failures in power sector, was forced to change his campaign from development issues to the ‘Marathi Manoos’ agenda.

Raj Thackeray in his meetings attacked the Opposition, especially Shiv Sena saying that by and large they had failed to corner the government on its failures.

The polls, being held after the Lok Sabha elections in May this year where the Congress performed impressively going past the 200 seat mark, have encouraged the party in the state to go for a hat-trick.

The Congress has been ruling the state for the last ten years in alliance with the NCP.

The Congress is contesting on 174 seats, leaving two for RPI (Gavai) group while the NCP is contesting on 114 seats.

The Shiv Sena is fighting on 169 and the BJP on 119 seats. Though the MNS has fielded candidates in 143 assembly constituencies, Raj Thackeray has focused on Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nashik areas where he hopes to make a dent.

The Republican Left Democratic Front (RLDF) comprising 16 political parties, including the PWP, the CPI(M) and the Samajwadi party and spearheaded by RPI leader Ramdas Athavale, is also contesting from all the seats.

The Front suffered a setback after RPI (Gavai) moved out to join the Congress-NCP bandwagon.

Generation Next of top state leaders like Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sushilkumar Shinde and Gopinath Munde are also making their debut in the election.

Amit, Mr. Deshmukh’s eldest son is in fray from Latur city; Pranati, Mr. Shinde’s youngest daughter is the Congress candidate from Solapur city central; Mr. Munde’s daughter Pankaja Palve is in fray from her father’s bastion Parli while Poonam Mahajan, Mr. Munde’s niece and daughter of BJP leader late Pramod Mahajan is testing political waters from Ghatkopar west in Mumbai.

But the most high-profile of all is Rajendra Shekhawat, son of President Pratibha Patil who is contesting from Amravati, a seat represented by his parents earlier.

The campaigning saw UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress General secretary Rahul Gandhi addressing election meetings across the state. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressed the media in Mumbai on Sunday.

While the ‘Thackeray vs Thackeray’ campaign focused on ’Marathi manoos’ issue, both Sonia and Rahul stressed on development issues and cautioned people against voting for divisive forces.

Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani toured the state except for Mumbai and BJP president Rajnath Singh participated in a joint rally with Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray at Shivaji Park on Saturday.

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar also campaigned aggressively for the Congress-NCP candidates but did not share stage with Sonia Gandhi for any election rally.

Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray could not actively participate in the campaigning and restricted himself to interviews and televised address to followers.

The “Marathi” issue dominated the election manifesto of both Sena-BJP and Congress-NCP. Both manifestos speak of organising “Marathi week“.

The Congress-NCP even said that it will set up a legislative committee to ensure that the work at government offices is carried out in Marathi.

The Sena-BJP manifesto says it will set up a permanent machinery to stop migration to Mumbai and ensure 80 per cent jobs to locals.

Bureau Report

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