THE CURTAINS fell down on the high pitched electioneering for the Maharashtra Assembly election on Monday. As per rules, campaign guns fell silent 48 hours before the voting is slated for November 20. Though active campaign is over, it's now time for corner and secret meetings to tie-up the loose ends as candidates would not rest till the last vote is cast. And these small meetings hold the key to election outcome as deals and pacts get sealed here. Hence administration is going all out to keep a hawk's eye in every constituency to ensure level playing field for all in the election. Though officially campaign ended on Monday, candidates had pulled out all stops to put up a big show, to showcase to their support base, on Sunday itself.The city police seem to have ensured that rallies get spaced out over two days so that traffic does not get affected due to simultaneous movements of all parties in one go. This is done as such rallies have presence of around 50 to 100 persons, sometimes more, and also there are two and four wheelers accompanying, and they move slowly through major thoroughfares that may lead to traffic jams. The city saw rallies of Congress star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi in two Assembly segments.

 

Even Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) roped in its Member of Parliament and cine star Kangana Ranaut for road shows in three segments,West Nagpur, Central Nagpur and Kamptee. Still with a day left, big names in fray took out long rallies trying to cover the entire Assembly segments, to appeal voters for their votes.The day started quite early as candidates know they had to wind down their campaigning by 6 pm. Congress candidate in South West Assembly segment, Praful Gudadhe roped in yesteryear cricket great Mohd.

 

Azharuddin for a rally that covered the distance from Jaitala to Rambagh, moving through all prominent localities while doing so. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is leading the Mahayuti's and particularly Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) campaign and hence on Sunday itself, he conducted a massive road show in his home front, South West Assembly segment making a last ditch attempt to cash in on votes. On the last day, he was involved in various public meetings for party candidates in State. Meanwhile most of the prominent candidates took out twowheeler rallies in their respective constituencies. Post campaigning, candidates are now engaged in calculations based on inputs gathered during the campaign. They are being assessed to gauge the mood of votersso thatanychangeinlast minute strategy can be carried out to sort out the matter. Particularly forestablishedcandidates and parties the presence of strong Independent candidates in the field has made the task more formidable for them. Campaigning started in real earnest post-withdrawal of nominations on November 3 as after that, the situation became clear.

 

The shorter period of campaigning put pressure on candidates as they had to cover the entire constituency to ensure thatvotersentimentsare not hurt for not reaching out to them. Hence, the scooter and bike rally on last day route ischartedoutinsuchaway that even the uncovered areas, gets covered. Congress andBJPhasdeputed seniorpartyleaders tooversee the election process and they are campaigning till the election day to steer the party strategy. The battle for Maharashtra Assemblyisquitecrucial as the stakes are quite high for both national parties, fighting it out forsupremacy.Further the twoway split in Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)has addedanewdimension to State Assembly elections. More so after the upset results in Lok Sabha polls, for theShivSena andNCP groups, the outcome ofAssembly election will be a virtual affirmation or rejection of their leadership status in the State.