Patna, October 16
Curtains came down today on the campaign in 57 Assembly constituencies going to the polls in the first phase on October 18 with top leaders of the contesting political parties making last-ditch efforts to sway voters in their favour.

With the end of the campaign today, the stage is set for the battle of ballots for nearly 550 candidates left in the fray for the first phase in which polling will be held in 57 constituencies.

Four constituencies in Naxalite-hit Gaya district have been excluded from the first phase and polling there will be conducted there on October 21.

The campaign, which was low key initially due to Dasehra, gained momentum only in the last three days with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP president L.K. Advani and JD (U) chief George Fernandes joining the exercise.

Former Prime Minister and BJP's tallest leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee could not make it in the first phase.

The campaign was marred by violence starting with the attack on former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad while he was addressing a rally at Nokha and ending with a criminal arrested with a revolver from the venue of a meeting of RJD president Lalu Prasad at Purnea.

NDA's chief ministerial candidate Nitish Kumar, who has toured almost all the constituencies going to poll in the first phase, campaigning at Dharua, Amarpur, Jhajha and Jamui.

RJD supremo and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad visited Ara, Shahpur in Buxar, Karakat, Makhdumpur and Jehanabad to garner support for his party and those of allies Congress and NCP.

An electorate of about 1,22,62,881, including 6,11,0458 women, are eligible to cast their votes in the first phase.

Prominent among those whose fate would be decided in the first phase include ministers in the erstwhile Rabri Devi government Jagdanand Singh (Ramgarh), Raghvendra Pratap Singh (Barahra), and Shakeel Ahmed Khan (Gurua).

Union Minister and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan together with CPI left no stone unturned to tell the people why it was necessary to defeat RJD and the BJP-led coalition.

Reiterating his party's commitment to make a Muslim the Chief Minister of Bihar, Paswan despite suffering a heart attack recently, campaigned in 5-7 constituencies daily.

CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan gave him ample support by touring with the LJP chief different constituencies explaining why CPI, Forward Block and RSP did not join the RJD bandwagon.

Ms Sonia Gandhi addressed election meetings at Gaya, Singhia and Patna. At Patna, she was joined by Mr Lalu Prasad and NCP president Sharad Pawar.