NEW DELHI: Campaigning for assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and for the bypolls in several states ended on Saturday evening with political parties going all out to woo the voters.

On the last day of campaigning, Prime Minister Narendra Modi campainged in Haryana and sharpened his attack on the opposition Congress over issues of Article 370 and the Kartarpur corridor, accusing it of "destroying the country" with wrong policies and strategy.

Raising the issue of the special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370, Modi said what was called a temporary provision by B R Ambedkar, continued for over 70 years but the Congress did nothing about it.

The main contest in Haryana is seen between the BJP, Congress and the Jannayak Janata Party. However, CM Khattar claimed that the opposition was in disarray and the BJP has no direct contest with any party.

Union Home Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah led the charge in Maharashtra where he dared Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to declare that his party will restore provisions of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir if voted to power.

Addressing a rally in Maharashtra's tribal Nandurbar district, Shah said after Narendra Modi won the second term with a massive mandate in May this year, the first thing he did was to abrogate provisions of Article 370 which gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

"Due to the special provisions, Pakistan fomented terror in the state and over 40,000 people died. Development in Kashmir came to a standstill. But Congress was not ready to scrap the provisions. It was worried about its vote bank and not about the national interest. No PM ever dared to take the decision. It was Modi with his 56-inch chest who made the move," he said.

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is seeking a second term, held a massive roadshow in Nagpur city, to garner votes for the BJP.

Fadnavis is contesting the polls, scheduled to be held on October 21, from Nagpur South West seat.

From Opposition's perspective, it was perhaps the most lacklustre canvassing with the exception of a few rallies addressed by Rahul Gandhi who highlighted issues like the economic slowdown, unemployment, "failure" of demonetisation exercise and GST rollout.

For the Opposition, Sharad Pawar seemed to be the only saving grace who hit the hustings at the age of 79 and addressed a number of rallies in which he attacked PM Modi and BJP on a string of issues.

Pawar took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for attacking him during the poll campaigning. "I feel that after taking my name the whole day, they must be taking my name in their sleep as well," he joked.

The NCP chief also hit out at Shah for questionning his contribution to Maharashtra.

Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant expressed hope that people will give a mandate against the ruling government on October 21, day of voting. He equated chief minister Devendra Fadnavis' tenure since 2014 with "dictatorship".

However, the Congress and NCP failed to hold even a single joint rally in contrast to the joint rally held by the Prime Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai on October 18.

In Haryana, actor and BJP MP from Gurdaspur, Sunny Deol campaigned for Om Parkash Dhankar, BJP's candidate from the Badli assembly constituency in the state.

BJP MP and veteran Bollywood actor Hema Malini addressed a public rally in Panipat while campaigning for Krishan Lal Panwar, the BJP candidate from Israna assembly constituency.

Law and order, Article 370 in focus as campaigning for UP assembly bypolls comes to end

Campaigning for the bypolls to 11 assembly seats in the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh came to an end on Saturday evening, with political parties making a last minute effort to reach out to voters in the polls seen as a litmus test for the Yogi Adityanath government which has completed 30 months in office.

The bypolls for Gangoh, Rampur, Iglas (SC), Lucknow Cantonment, Govindnagar, Manikpur, Pratapgarh, Zaidpur (SC), Jalalpur, Balha (SC) and Ghosi seats will held along with the assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana on October 21.

It is a four-cornered contest with the BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress fielding candidates on all 11 assembly seats.

Of the 11 seats, eight were held earlier by the BJP and Pratapgarh was represented by BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal). The seats of Rampur and Jalalpur (Ambedkarnagar) were held by the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party, respectively.

The ruling BJP will try to build on its Lok Sabha success, while the opposition parties hope the results will help them galvanise its cadres ahead of the 2022 elections for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

Campaigning ends for by-elections to four Assembly seats in Punjab

The Congress has fielded former state youth Congress chief Raminder Awla from Jalalabad, Balwinder Singh Dhaliwal from Phagwara, Indu Bala from Mukerian and Sandeep Singh Sandhu from Dakha.

The BJP has fielded Rajesh Bagga from Phagwara and Jangi Lal Mahajan from Mukerian, while its alliance partner Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has fielded Manpreet Singh Ayali from Dakha and Raj Singh Dibbipura from Jalalabad.

Two Assembly seats in Rajasthan to vote

Campaigning for the bypolls to the Mandawa and Khinwsar assembly seats in Rajasthan ended on Saturday evening.

The bypolls were necessitated after Khinwsar MLA and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party leader Hanuman Beniwal, and Mandawa BJP legislator Narendra Kumar got elected to the Lok Sabha in May.

Campaigning ends for two Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh

The bypolls will be a test for chief minister Jai Ram Thakur as the ruling BJP looks to not only retain the seats but also to increase the margin.

By-elections to the Pachhad and the Dharamshala Assembly seats were necessitated after sitting BJP MLAs Suresh Kashyap and Kishan Kapoor were elected to the Lok Sabha this May.

Six Assembly seats in Gujarat to vote in bypolls

Byelections will be held for Tharad, Radhanpur, Kheralu, Bayad, Amraiwadi and Lunawada seats in the BJP-ruled state.

Byelections were necessitated in Radhanpur and Bayad following the resignations of sitting MLAs Alpesh Thakor and Dhavalsinh Zala who quit the Congress and joined the BJP. Elections became necessary in Tharad, Lunawada, Kheralu and Amraiwadi after BJP MLAs of these seats were elected to the Lok Sabha.

Kerala bypolls seen as semi-final to 2021 state polls

The bypolls are being held to Vattiyoorkavu segment in Thiruvananthapuram, Aroor (Alappuzha), Konni (Pathnamthitta), Ernakulam and Manjeshwaram (Kasaragod).

The bypolls are seen as crucial for both the LDF and the UDF as it being seen as a semi-final run up to the 2021 assembly polls.

The votes for assembly elections and bypolls will be counted on October 24.

