The two most talked about constituencies _ Lucknow and Amethi _ went to the polls on Sunday, ending the last phase of the longest-ever poll process in India. Amethi, from where AICC chief Sonia Gandhi is contesting, saw a big turnout with women at times outnumbering men in the long, serpentine queues. It is obvious that Ms Gandhi has won and her daughter Priyanka even announced as much at a press conference later in the day. However, the BJP nominee Sanjay Singh did come up with the ageold strategy of coercion and was seen at times to brandishing a revolver himself. The elections went off peacefully and the BJP tactics of provocation has not helped matters for Singh.

Elections were also held in the North-eastern states of Tripura, Assam and Sikkim where the people came out in large numbers despite the call for poll boycott by terrorist. However, in Assam and Tripura , at least 15 persons were killed in election-related violence.