As the curtains on the official campaign for the the Tuesday's Sri Lankan Presidential election come down at midnight, the two chief contenders the incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the common opposition candidate, retired General Sarath Fonseka wound up their nearly two-month long campaign with mammoth rallies in and around Colombo. There is little doubt that it is one of the most crucial election in the 48 year old post independent history of the island nation for two reasons. It is the first much mass democratic exercise in the post-Prabakaran era and it is again for the first time that an apolitical candidate has managed to capture the imagination of the voters in such a short span of time.AIR correspondent Kanchan Prasad reports from Colombo that this correspondent today had the benefit of attending two separate events of both the candidates who have been stealing the limelight since the date for election was announced in the fourth week of October. This evening President Rajapaksa addressed a large rally at Piliyandala, 20 kms away from the capital city. Though considered to be a strong hold of the main opposition United National Party, the campaign managers of the President had managed to put up an impressive show of strength and the enthusiasm among the people was evident. Mr. Rajapaksa sounded confident amid repeated cheers and applause from his supporters. Earlier in the day the opposition candidate Fonseka voiced concern over alleged electoral malpractices by the ruling party. However, he insisted that despite all the efforts of the ruling party manage he would emerge the winner. Fonseka’s coalition supporters, UNP and ultra nationalist JVP, however, vowed to take to the streets if democratic procedure of free and fair election was violated by the government side. From tomorrow, the candidates would focus on door to door campaign and fine tuning their tactics to ensure that their respective voters turn out in larger numbers and put them at the helm of affairs of the island nation.