Weather thaws, poll campaign heats up in Himachal Pradesh

Dec 15, 2007, 14:10 GMT

Shimla, Dec 15 (IANS) After five days of cold and chilly weather in Himachal Pradesh, the gods were merciful Saturday and the election campaign picked up pace - and heat, as the politicians lined up to woo the voters in the state.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi set the pace with two large election rallies in Una and Shimla where she launched an attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calling it 'fascist and corrupt'.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh joined Gandhi at her rallies. He later flew to Sundernagar, Nacchan in Mandi district and then to Arki in Solan district.

Meanwhile, Sushma Swaraj of the BJP visited Theog in Shimla district and Doon in Solan district to address rallies.

The BJP's chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal held a record 11 rallies in the Chamba and Kangra valleys.

In the past week, the election campaign has been mostly low-key as top national and state leaders had to cancel most of their rallies because of inclement weather.

The second and final phase of polling for 65 assembly seats will take place Dec 19 and the counting starts Dec 28.

According to the Chief Electoral Officer Manisha Nanda there are 4,477,254 voters and 324 candidates in the fray for these 65 seats.

The Arki assembly seat in Solan district has the largest number of nine candidates.

While the BJP, the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party have fielded candidates in all the seats, the Lok Janshakti is contesting 38 seats and the Communist Party of India -Marxist on six seats.

The first phase of polling took place for the three tribal seats of Bharmaur, Lahaul & Spiti and Kinnaur Nov 14, due to fears of early snowfall in the high mountain region.

© 2007 Indo-Asian News Service