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Kochi, Apr 27 (UNI) Electioneering for the second phase of polls to 66 crucial Kerala Assembly seats came to a close this evening, with both the ruling and opposition fronts sounding confident.

Rallies, public meetings, criss-crossing vehicles mounted with loudspeakers in the last-minute drive marked the long-drawn campaign in the six Central districts of the state.

In this phase, 437 candiates including stalwarts like Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan (Malampuzha), Democratic Indira Congress-Karunakaran President K Muraleedharan (Koduvally), Indian Union Muslim League(IUML) leader P K Kunhalikutty (Kuttippuram) and BJP leader O Rajagopal (Palakkad) are in the fray.

About 11.6 million voters in Ernakulam, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Wayanad districts can exercise their franchise in the polling on April 29.

Both the ruling Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and opposition Marxist-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) have left no stone unturned, while pulling out the best strategies and bringing in leaders to spearhead the campaign for over three weeks.

Though the frenzied poster-war and fierce debates of yesteryears when elections were celebrated as festivals in rural Kerala, were missing to a certain extent this time, the election fever continued to be the talk of the day in the Central Kerala throughout.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh led a host of national-level leaders to stir up Congressmen after the dismal exit poll results of the first phase of polls on April 22.

In the 2001 elections, UDF had won 50 of the total 66 seats in these districts, termed as their traditional bastion. This makes it a crucial round for them in their all-out effort to stay in power for another term.

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