The BJP, whose ministry has the distinction of being the first-ever non-Congress government in the state to complete its full five-year term, is trying hard to retain its upper hand while the Congress out of power since 1990 is straining every nerve to regain its one-time bastion.

The mood in the Congress camp is upbeat with its electoral success in the last Lok Sabha poll when it won 18 of the 25 seats. The BJP, speedily recovering from the stunning blow, has sought to overcome its diffidence by organising two mammoth rallies attended by Prime Minister A B Vajpayee in Jaipur and Jodhpur in recent months.

The two parties are now all set to kick off their poll campaign by organising rallies to be addressed by their star campaigners in Udaipur and Bikaner.

While Vajpayee would address a rally inUdaipur on October 25, the Congress president Sonia Gandhi would launch her party's campaign in Bikaner on October 26.

The United Front, comprising the CPM, CPI and Janata Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party, has already announced its decision to contest the poll making the Assembly poll, for all intends and purposes, a three-cornered contest.

The process of selecting candidates is in an advanced stage in both BJP and Congress and the observers of both the parties have concluded discussions at the grassroot level and the panels of names of prospective candidates are already with the state Election Committees.

The lists of party candidates are likely to be announced in Delhi next week.

The BJP had won 95 seats in the 1993 Assembly elections followed by 73 by Congress. As many as 21 independents had been elected to the Assembly but half of them joined the Shekhawat ministry to ``provide stability to the BJP government''.

Meanwhile, a state Election Department official said some 40,000 pollingstations to be manned by 2.75 lakh polling staff would be set up for the Assembly polls. About 75,000 policemen would be deployed to maintain law and order during the poll.