Campaigning ended on Tuesday for the first phase of polling for the 17th Lok Sabha election scheduled for Thursday.
Ninety-one Lok Sabha constituencies across 20 States and Union Territories will vote in the first of the seven phases. Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and parts of Odisha will be voting on Thursday to elect new Assemblies also. Counting of votes of all phases will be on May 27.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the central character and campaigner of the election, has focussed his electioneering less on the scorecard of his five-year term and more on the Opposition that he repeatedly said was in cahoots with Pakistan. He raised it on Tuesday also.
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“We attacked terror in Pakistan, but some people in India felt the pain. …I want to ask him, is your vote bank in India or Pakistan,” Mr. Modi said in Chitradurga in Karnataka, taking aim at Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy.
Karnataka votes in the second and third phases. In Maharashtra, Mr. Modi asked for votes in the name of the soldiers who fell in a terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir in February.
“Can your first vote be in the name of the martyrs who lost their lives in Pulwama,” he said in a special appeal to first-time voters. Mr. Modi has not highlighted demonetisation, a move that was widely praised by his supporters as a show of decisive leadership and assault on terror funding and black money. The Congress has tried to recover its lost ground by promising a minimum income guarantee scheme if it comes to power.
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Rahul’s challenge
Congress president Rahul Gandhi has also been trying to put Mr. Modi in the dock on the issue of corruption, on which the latter claims a clean record.
“Scared of debating me on corruption? I can make it easier for you. Let’s go open book, so you can prepare: 1. RAFALE+Anil Ambani 2. Nirav Modi 3. Amit Shah+Demonetisation,” he tweeted on Tuesday.
The Congress manifesto has also offered a softer state in contrast with Mr. Modi’s recurring theme of hard power as a signature achievement of his tenure. The Congress promise to review the AFSPA and revoke the sedition law has prompted sharp reactions from the BJP. While the Congress is trying to take on the BJP by deflecting from the national security plank and raising corruption issues in the States such as Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, regional issues have dominated campaigning in Andhra Pradesh.