Nabarangpur: The high voltage
campaign for the November 30 by-election for Umerkote assembly constituency in Orissa came to an end this evening after
whirlwind tours by several political leaders.
The din and bustle of electioneering fell silent at 4
pm with senior BJP leader and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister
Raman Singh hitting the campaign trail on the last day of
campaign to bolster prospects of party candidate Dharmu Gond.
Apart from Singh, a host of senior BJP leaders
including state party president Jual Oram had who campaigned
in the Maoist-hit constituency, came down on both Congress and
ruling BJD over issues like corruption in the centre and
Odisha respectively.
While Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik addressed poll
meetings at Umerkote and Raighar on Friday to seek votes for
the BJD candidate, senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Pyari
Mohan Mohapatra virtually camped in the area and made
extensive tours to ensure victory of the regional party.
BJD`s campaign also saw whistle-stop tours by a number
of state ministers, MPs and MLAs.
Opposition Congress was also not far behind in its
efforts to seek people`s support with senior party leaders
including former union minister Jagdish Tytler joining the
electioneering besides OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik.
Besides slamming the BJD government in the state for
growing corruption and a series of scams including mining
scandal, the Congress leaders accused the Naveen Patnaik
government of failing to utilise central funds provided for
several welfare and development programmes.
District Election Officer and Collector Sivabrata
Dash said now onwards as the campaign was over "anybody who
is not the voter of Umerkote assembly constituency cannot
remain with in its boundary till the polling is over on
Nov30", according to election of code of conduct.
Meanwhile, despatch of polling parties began this
evening from here to 162 booths spread over Umerkote assembly
constituency.
PTI
