The curtains came down today on the high-pitch campaign for Uttar Pradesh and Goa Assembly elections, capping more than month-long electioneering in five states.
Polling in the seventh and final phase of the staggered Uttar Pradesh elections and in the single-phase exercise for the 40-member Goa assembly will be held on March 3.
The three other states which had already gone through assembly polls are Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur.
The final leg of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 60 seats spread over 10 northwestern districts, known as Rohilkhand region, will cover Bijnore, Moradabad, Bheem Nagar, Rampur, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Badaun, Bareilly, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur and Lakhimpur Kheri.
An estimated 1.82 crore voters are expected to exercise their franchise at over 18,000 polling centres to decide the electoral fate of 962 candidates, Joint Chief Electoral Officer Anita Meshram said in Lucknow.
The final phase of UP poll is seen as crucial for Congress which had put up a vastly improved performance in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls in 15 of the 60 assembly constituencies going to poll day after tomorrow and Samajwadi Party which had done even better.
What remains to be seen if Congress, spearheaded by its star campaigner Rahul Gandhi, and SP can sustain the momentum generated three years ago.
