Mayawati campaigns in Pune

Pune, Oct 5 (ANI): Kick-starting her poll campaign in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati addressed a public rally in Pune on Sunday.

Mayawati sought support for her party during the October 13 assembly polls.

"Now I want to say that if you want similar environment as in Uttar Pradesh, in your State, where work is done keeping in mind the interest of all sections of society, then you will have to work for the victory of our party's maximum candidates from your state in the assembly elections," Mayawati said.

BSP is contesting 282 of 288 seats in Maharashtra, the highest number of seats by any party though it did not win any of the 272 seats the party contested in the 2004 elections, securing 3.88 percent of vote share.

The main contest in the state is between the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the opposition alliance of the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The elections will be the first major test for the federal-ruling Congress coalition after a strong victory in the general election in May and how the government responded to challenges including a drought and rising food prices.

The polls will also be a test for main opposition BJP, which has appeared largely directionless after its election defeat. (ANI)