Over to voters as LS poll campaign ends

Patna: Curtains came down on the high-voltage campaign for the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha elections in the state on Thursday.Eight constituencies — Nalanda, Patna Sahib, Patliputra, Ara, Buxar, Sasaram, Karakat and Jehanabad — will go to polls in the last leg on June 1.Campaign for the seventh phase saw top netas of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and opposition INDIA bloc — Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Congress president Rahul Gandhi — making last-ditch efforts to woo the voters.Like in the previous six phases, the PM kick-started the NDA's poll campaign in the state for the seventh phase on May 25 by addressing three back-to-back rallies in Patliputra, Buxar and Karakat. He accused the INDIA bloc of performing "mujra (dance)" for vote-bank politics and vowed to thwart alleged attempts of the opposition to rob dalits and backward classes of reservations.The PM's "mujra" barb drew bitter reactions from the netas of opposition parties across the country. They slammed Modi for his "vitriolic" attack and said no other PM in the country's history would have used such words.The war of words between the two key alliances over the PM's remark set the tone for the seventh phase of poll campaign in the state. Gandhi, who had mostly remained conspicuous by his absence from poll rallies in Bihar, finally campaigned for RJD chief Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti in Patliputra on May 27. He also pitched for Congress's Patna Sahib candidate Anshul Avijit on the same day.Prior to these rallies, Gandhi had addressed just one election meeting in Bhagalpur where Congress's Ajit Sharma had slugged it out with JD(U)’s Ajay Kumar Mandal in the second phase of polls on April 26.Apart from the PM, other star campaigners of the BJP like party president J P Nadda, Union home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath also campaigned for the NDA candidates in the state in the last phase.Former deputy CM Tejashwi Prasad Yadav was the undisputed showstopper in the opposition camp even in the seventh phase. Together with Vikassheel Insaan Party chief Mukesh Sahani, Tejashwi had scored a double century as far as addressing election rallies is concerned in the sixth phase itself. Braving severe back pain, Tejashwi was seen campaigning extensively for the INDIA bloc candidates, including his sister Misa Bharti, even in the last phase.Chief minister Nitish Kumar, whose JD(U) is contesting two seats — Nalanda and Jehanabad — in the last phase, also addressed a series of rallies before wrapping up his campaign. From the NDA camp, the BJP is contesting five seats and Rashtriya Lok Morcha chief Upendra Kushwaha is in the fray in Karakat. In the INDIA bloc, CPI(ML) and RJD are contesting three seats each and Congress two seats. Over 1.62 lakh people are expected to decide the fate of 134 candidates, including 12 women, in Bihar in the final phase.