New Delhi: The campaigning in Uttarakhand and Punjab for the Assembly elections slated for January 30, ends on Saturday.
In Uttarakhand 800 candidates are in the fray for 70-member Assembly seats, while as 1880 aspirants are in the fray for 117-member Assembly seats in Punjab.
The Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements to ensure free and fair polls in both the states slated on January 30.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari will address rallies in Pathankot and Chandigarh while his colleague, MP Shatrugan Sinha is scheduled to campaign in Ludhiana on Saturday.
Amarinder Singh's Congress, the Parkash Singh Badal-headed SAD-BJP combine and the Chief Minister's nephew Manpreet Singh Badal have come out as strong contenders over weeks of campaigning.
Meanwhile in Uttarakhand, Congress veteran ND Tiwari on Wednesday jumped into the race of chief ministerial post in the event of his party returning to power.
Earlier on January 25, Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi in an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN said that the use of black money during the Assembly elections was a major cause for concern and the EC was trying its best to deal with it.
Across the five states getting ready for the Assembly elections, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa, nearly Rs 45 crore of illegal money has been seized so far. Out of that, nearly Rs 30 crore has been seized from Punjab only.
Sources in the Election Commission said that money is just the tip of the iceberg to buy votes in Punjab. Candidates have been distributing liquor freely, 11,206 litres of illicit liquor and 1,43,070 country liquor bottles have been confiscated.
Two weeks back, Quraishi had summoned the Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau OPS Malik. The biggest problem discussed was the addiction of poppy husk in the Majha belt, from Ferozepur to Amritsar. Since then, 2,300 kg poppy husk, 7 kg of heroin worth nearly Rs 65 crore in the international market, 10 kg opium and hundreds of kilograms of other drugs have been seized.
In 2012, 266 candidates are crorepatis, while in the 2007 Assembly elections, only 184 candidates were crorepatis in Punjab.
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