Gloom hits poll campaign

The last day of the election campaign in the city turned into something of a damp squib with both the Congress and the BJP had planned to end their campaign by organising grand rallies.

The last day of the election campaign in the city turned into something of a damp squib.

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Both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had planned to end their campaign by organising grand rallies, they had to settle for low-key public meetings in the aftermath of Mumbai terror attacks.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s rally in Dakshinpuri, that was supposed to be the Congress’s campaign finale, was cancelled after reports of the attack.

Most of the Congress leadership also suspended their engagements. “It was not appropriate to hold a rally after such a big incident,” said Delhi Congress chief Jai Prakash Aggarwal.

While chief minister Sheila Dikshit addressed some public meetings in Narela and Jahangirpuri, most of her remaining poll campaign was low-key.

The CM visited her assembly segment — meeting voters in Ansari Nagar government quarters and the AIIMS campus. “You must vote for the Congress,” Dikshit told women voters who had problems ranging from lack of drinking water, inflation to widow pensions.

Most other candidates also held padyatras in their areas. Delhi health minister Yoganand Shastri said he had successful padyatras in Mehrauli, Kishangarh, Saket and Vasant Kunj area of the Mehrauli assembly seat.

A few rallies like the one called by BJP’s VK Malhotra were also cancelled. The BJP had organised over half-a-dozen public meetings in the city, addressed by senior party leaders including Sushma Swaraj, Shahnawaz Hussain, Uttaranchal chief minister BC Khanduri, Navjot Singh Siddhu among others.