With the ban on meetings and rallies coming into force, the candidates switched to door-to-door campaigning.

Star campaigners of various political parties, including Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Congress president Sonia Gandhi crisscrossed various constituencies to garner support for their respective candidates.

Leading the BJP campaign, Vajpayee addressed several election meetings in Uttar Pradesh and said Pakistan wanted to keep two peaks in Kargil under its occupation in return for withdrawal from the rest of Indian territory, but his government's firmness prevented this.

Sonia Gandhi charged the BJP with failing to fulfil its promises to uplift tribals and other weaker sections of the society and said the Congress alone could fulfil the long-cherished dream of the Jharkhandis for aseparate state.

Prominent among the 855 candidates whose electoral fate would be decided are Union finance minister Yashwant Sinha (Hazaribagh), Union human resource development minister Murali Manohar Joshi (Allahabad), his deputy Uma Bharati, Congress leader Suresh Pachauri (both Bhopal), former defence minister and Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav (Kannuaj), his party colleague Phoolan Devi (Mirzapur), former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Sunderlal Patwa (Hoshangabad) and Congress leaders Ajit Jogi (Shahdol), P Upendra (Vijaywada) and S Jaipal Reddy (Miryalguda).

Polling for the third phase will be held in 30 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, 19 in Bihar, 14 each in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh and one in Jammu & Kashmir. Polling will also be held for 97 assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh.

Election for the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency, originally scheduled to go to polls on September 18, has been postponed to October 4 following the death of the BJP candidate, Ghulam HyderNoorani, in a landmine blast on September 7.

Polling for Sirpur assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh has been postponed following the killing of TDP MLA P Purushottam by suspected naxalites of the Peoples' War Group.