Campaign ends for Ullal Bypoll

Mangalore, May 31 (UNI) Campaigning for June two byelection to Ullal Assembly constituency, which has seen intense fight between Congress, BJP and the Janata Dal (S), came to an end this evening.

While the Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy made a last minute effort to woo the voters in favour of JD(S) candidate with a whirlwind tour of the constituency forming the part of this Port City.

Other parties were not left behind with Congress leaders including Leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly N Dharam Singh, PCC President Mallikarjun Kharge, BJP State President Sadananda Gowda, Deputy Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa camped in the constituency during the one week for intense campaigning.

The campaign which began with a dull note two weeks ago, picked up the momentum with top leaders including union ministers and leaders within the state camping in the constituency or making repeated visits.

Traditional rivals Congress and the BJP were involved in a neck and neck fight with JD(S) making its bid with the active involvement of Mr Kumaraswamy, who made an extensive coverage of the constituency and appeased the voters with a slew of promises.

U T Khader of Congress, son U T Fareed whose death caused the bypolls, is pitted in a direct fight against BJP's Chandrshekar Uchil who made and unsuccessful attempt in the last election. The JD(S) has fielded Aboobakkar Natekal, while there are two other candidates in the fray that included Balakrishna Shetty from CPI(M) and an independent Bharatraj Shetty.

Political parties concentrated more on door-to-door campaigning highlighting their achievements and failures of their opponents.

Unlike in the earlier elections, importance was not paid to public meetings.

A slew of charges and counter charges were seen being hurled between the leaders of different political parties. There were a total of 15 complaints filed with the district election officers by various political parties.

UNI