Candidates in the hill state switched over to door-to-door canvassing in a last ditch effort to woo voters as the two month-long low key electioneering which reached a feverish pitch during the last phase inching towards a close.
The BJP was winding up the campaign with the election rally of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Mandi while the Congress was winding up with Chief Minister V B Singh and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot's rally in Kullu. Filmstar Zeenat Aman also campaigned for the Congress on the last day.
There were 23 candidates in the field including former Union Minister Shanta Kumar, Suresh Chandel, Maheshwar Singh and Dhani Ram Shandil, all members of dissolved Lok Sabha, state ministers Ram Lal Thakur and Chander Kumar, Pratibha Singh, wife of the chief minister and former Lok Sabha member Ranjit Singh (JD-S).
The BJP, the Congress and the BSP were contesting all four seats while Samajwadi Party and JD (S) were in the fray in one seat each. Nine independents were also contesting the polls but it was direct contest between the BJP and the Congress in all seats.
There were 41,81,995 voters in the state including 21,28,828 men and 20,53,187 women voters in the state with Mandi constituency having largest number of 10,65,083 votes followed by Hamirpur (10,64,238), Kangra (10,33,686) and Shimla (10,18,988).
{{/usCountry}}There were 41,81,995 voters in the state including 21,28,828 men and 20,53,187 women voters in the state with Mandi constituency having largest number of 10,65,083 votes followed by Hamirpur (10,64,238), Kangra (10,33,686) and Shimla (10,18,988).
{{/usCountry}}