New Delhi, May 23 (UNI) The campaign drums fell silent at 6 pm on Thursday over 58 seats stretched across six states and two Union Territories where polling is scheduled in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday.
The seats where campaigning came to an end includes all seven constituencies in Delhi and 10 in neighbouring Haryana.
The high-octane campaigning for the penultimate phase of the staggered parliamentary polls in the world's most populated country saw the big leaders of the contending parties go all guns blazing against their opponents at rallies and road shows, regardless of the intense heat and humidity prevailing in most of the regions.
For the ruling NDA spearhead BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the saffron outfit's National President JP Nadda carpet bombed constituency after constituency. On the other hand, the principal opposition INDIA bloc's mainstay Congress returned the fire with its former and current president Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge as also General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra leading the charge.
Among other campaigners for the INDIA bloc were Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav.
Apart from Haryana and the Union Territory of Delhi, the states going to the hustings on May 25 are Bihar (8 seats), Jharkhand (4), Odisha (6), Uttar Pradesh (14), and West Bengal (8).
The election to the Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency of Jammu and Kashmir, which was deferred from May 7 following logistical, communication, and natural barriers related to connectivity, is also being held in this phase where 889 candidates are in the race. This includes 20 nominees for Anantnag-Rajouri parliamentary constituency.
The final phase of polling will be held on June 1. The vote count is on June 4.
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