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Campaign ends for first phase of polls

— Photo: AFP

INCUMBENT AND ASPIRANT: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani at a function to commemorate the birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in New Delhi on Tuesday. Locked as they are in a bitter political campaign, the face-to-face was devoid of warmth. Later, Mr. Advani skipped a dinner hosted by Dr. Singh for Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee.

NEW DELHI: The heat and dust of the campaign in 124 Lok Sabha constituencies in 17 States and Union Territories, which go to the polls in the first phase on Thursday, settled on Tuesday as the deadline for electioneering ended at 5 p.m. in many constituencies.

Voters in Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Chhattisgarh, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep, where there will be a single-phase polling on April 16, will have to wait for more than a month for the results as counting will be taken up only on May 16.

Simultaneously, the Election Commission’s month-long restrictions on publication and dissemination of the results of opinion polls/exit polls also came into effect from 3 p.m. on Tuesday, as in some constituencies, particularly those affected by naxal activities, the poll time will end at 3 p.m. on Thursday as against 5 p.m. in other areas.

As per the Commission’s guidelines, the results of opinion/exit polls carried out at any time cannot be published, publicised or disseminated in any manner during the period starting from 48 hours before the hour fixed for conclusion of poll in the first phase and till the conclusion of poll in the last phase (ie. 5 p.m. on May 13).

Likewise, no election matter intended/likely to influence or affect the result of election, related to the constituencies going to the polls, should be telecast during the prohibited period of 48 hours.

As Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa are also being held simultaneously, 154 (out of a total of 294) Assembly constituencies in A.P. and 70 (out of 147) in Orissa will have elections on Thursday.

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