Campaigning ends with 33 public meetings on last day
for the December 7 assembly elections in Rajasthan came to end at 5pm on Wednesday. On the last day of campaign, 33 events, including two public meetings by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were held. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi did not campaign on the last day.
Polling for 199 seats in the 200member state assembly will be held between 8am and 5pm on December 7. Election for Ramgarh seat in Alwar district was countermanded after the death of a candidate.
BJP national president Amit Shah addressed a press conference in Jaipur on Wednesday to present a wrap of the campaign. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed 13 public meetings during the two-week campaign, he himself held 38 programmes covering all 33 districts in the state and chief minister Vasundhara Raje held 75 public meetings after her successful Gaurav Yatra.
“A total of 222 public meetings of all leaders, including central ministers and chief ministers of other states, had been held and 15 road shows organised during the campaign,” Shah said.
Congress general secretary and party in-charge for Rajasthan, Avinash Pande claimed PCC president Sachin Pilot and AICC general secretary Ashok Gehlot addressed more than 240 public
JAIPUR:Campaigning
meetings, which was a record. Party president Rahul Gandhi addressed more than 30 public meetings, the last being on Tuesday. “We raised 37 important questions on five years of BJP’s mis-governance. They (BJP) should have replied following the tradition, which Congress has always abided by, but as they have fascist and feudal thoughts, they kept running away from the questions,” Pilot said.
In the last push before polling on Friday, PM Modi held public meetings in Sumerpur (Pali) and Dausa, and Amit Shah held a road show in Ajmer. Raje was in south Rajasthan’s Kherwara and Bagidora constituencies, before taking part in a road show in Baran. She did not campaign in Jhalawar, her home turf, on the last day.
From the Congress’ side, state party president Sachin Pilot and former chief minister Ashok Gehlot campaigned largely in their own and nearby constituencies.
Pilot addressed several meetings in Tonk district and one in Sawai Madhopur. Gehlot held a meeting in Pali’s Jaitaran constituency and several others in Jodhpur district.
During the campaign, Modi picked on Brahmin remark of Congress leader CP Joshi and slogans during BD Kalla’s public meeting, made fun of Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s call on Bharat Mata ki jai salutation, Rahul Gandhi’s slip of tongue in Alwar, and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath tried to make Hanuman’s caste an election issue. Modi referred to Rahul Gandhi as ‘naamdar’ (dynast) in all his public meetings, calling himself kaamdar (one who works).
Rajasthan’s chief electoral officer Anand Kumar said the campaigning was peaceful with sporadic incidents of statements by leaders that invited police cases.