The din and dust of campaigning in 13 constituencies in Punjab and 4 in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh (HP) in the last lap of the Lok Sabha polls settled at 6 pm on Thursday after days of star campaigners from various political parties crisscrossing the states to win over the voters with their fiery speeches and bag of promises as the mercury at many places hovered above 45 degrees Celsius.In HP, canvassing also wound up for the simultaneous bypolls to be held in 6 Vidhan Sabha seats on voting day for LS polls, June 1.
Big guns boom on last day of campaigning
As many as 328 candidates are testing the electoral waters this time in the border state of Punjab and 62 candidates in the hill state of HP. The four major contesting political parties in Punjab are Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), while it is largely a two-cornered contest in Himachal.
On the last day of high decibel campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held his concluding rally of the 2024 parliamentary elections at Dussehra Ground in Punjab’s Hoshiarpur. Apart from this, BJP national president JP Nadda addressed public meetings and held roadshows in Nangal under Anandpur Sahib Lok Sabha constituency, Amritsar and Faridkot. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath too held rallies in Ludhiana and Mohali (Anandpur Sahib constituency). Congress’s former national president Rahul Gandhi made a final pitch at Khatkar Kalan in Nawanshahr district under Anandpur Sahib constituency.
Similarly, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann held road shows in Sangrur and Patiala parliamentary constituencies. SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal addressed election rallies at Sardulgarh, Budhlada and Mansa in favour of his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal who is contesting from Bathinda.
A galaxy of top campaigners also descended on HP in the hill state. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi campaigned in Solan for the par ty’s candidate from Shimla reserved parliamentary constituency Vinod Sultanpuri and BJP leader and Union minister Nitin Gadkari addressed the public rally in Karsog for the party’s candidate from Mandi Lok Sabha constituency and Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut.
BJP leader and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath also addressed a public gathering in Kullu for Ranaut and held an election rally at Bijhri in Hamirpur parliamentary constituency for the party’s candidate and Union minister Anurag Thakur.
