Campaigning has gained momentum for the assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh following the emergence of a clear picture of candidates. The Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Mr. Dorjee Khandu and two other Congress candidates have been elected unopposed to the state Assembly as no nominations were filed in these seats. The State Election Authorities disclosed this in Itanagar on Tuesday evening. With the withdrawal of 19 candidates, 154 are left in the fray for the 60 member House. Congress is contesting in 57 seats, NCP in 30, Trinamool Congress in 20 and the BJP in 18.Battle lines have also been drawn in the two other states of Maharashtra and Haryana with the passing of deadline for withdrawal of nominations. In Maharashtra, 66 candidates have withdrawn from the contest on the final day, leaving over 3000 candidates in the fray. A large number of Congress and NCP rebel candidates remain in the fray despite last minute efforts by party leaders to pursue them to withdraw their nominations. Congress rebel Ajit Ghorpade withdrew from Kavthe Mahankal constituency where the NCP nominee is former Home Minister R.R. Patil. In Kudal seat of Konkan region, Party rebel Pushpsen Sawant pulled out and declared his support to Congress and Industry Minister Narayan Rane. However, despite concerted efforts by senior Congress leaders, state minister Sunil Deshmukh refused to withdraw his candidature from Amrawati seat where he takes on the official candidate Rajendra Singh Shekhawat, son of President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil. Chief Minister Mr. Ashok Chavan has said that Congress would take a decision within two days on action to be taken against rebels who are still in the fray. The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance also failed to persuade star rebels to quit.In Haryana, Congress on Wednesday released its election manifesto. It says, legal aspects of the report of Chatha committee would be examined to form separate SGPC for the sikhs of Haryana. The Manifesto also promises that a separate Rural Development Authority would be created for Haryana and NREGA will be utilised for generation of more employment opportunities and community assets. The Manifesto was released in Chandigarh by Party General Secretary Mr. Prithviraj Singh. Chief Minister Mr. Bhupinder Singh Hooda and other leaders were also present on occasion.