The stage is set for tomorrow's assembly polls in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh, the first crucial test of popularity for major political parties after the Lok Sabha polls.
While the Congress is in power in Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh, it shares power with Sharad Pawar-led NCP in Maharashtra where the main opposition is in the form of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance.
The Election Commission has made elaborate security arrangements with special focus on Naxal-hit areas in Maharashtra to ensure peaceful polling, which will start at 7am in all the three states.
The over four week-long electioneering saw top leaders of Congress, BJP and other major players of regional parties hitting the campaign trail in a big way.
While the campaign was generally peaceful, Naxalites struck in Gadchiroli in Maharashtra last week, killing 17 policemen in an ambush and triggering concern among election authorities. The EC has deployed as many as 18,000 central police forces in Maharashtra alone to ensure peaceful polling.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party general secretary Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh undertook whirlwind tours of the three states, where the party is making all-out efforts to retain power.
Senior BJP leaders LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and M Venkaiah Naidu were the opposition stalwarts who campaigned vigorously.
