Just 2 km away from the hotel where Dr Karan Singh and his entourage are staying is the election office of the Prime Minister. It wears almost a deserted look with his posters and banners outnumbering party workers.

If campaigning was the criterion for winning elections, Dr Singh had a headstart. Through his mass contact programme, he is trying to reach the maximum number of voters. He has also held a series of roadside meetings and rallies.

Vajpayee, on the other hand, has not visited the constituency even once after filing his nomination, seeking hisfourth successive term from Lucknow since 1991. He will be here for three days from September 29. Till then his campaigning is being handled by his lieutenant, Urban Development Minister Lalji Tandon. Vajpayee, obviously, has the backing of the government. Chief Minister Kalyan Singh recently told reporters that crores of rupees have been pumped into the PM's constituency to make it a model city.

``Where is the development? The roads are in a bad shape. Power and potable water remain scarce in a number of areas, including villages. All the people whom I met complained that the PM had done nothing for the constituency which elected him thrice...Maybe his supporters are not meeting me,'' says Dr Singh, claiming he is confident of his victory.

``Vote for the Congress if you want stability, security and all-round development,'' insists the former Sadar-e-Riyasat of Kashmir in a constituency where Vajpayee is the only issue. His popularity transcends caste and community. He has been winning from here since1991 with more than one lakh votes.

Dr Singh's public advice to the PM to retire from politics and concentrate on writings poems for which he was willing to offer him accommodation in his ``palace in the cool confines of the Dal Lake'' has not cut any ice with the electorate. Nor has it been impressed by his tom-toming of the fact that he was Sadar-e-Riyasat at 18.

The Congress camp, however, has been galvanised by the party's decision to field Dr Singh. ``In Dr Karan Singh, our party president, Sonia Gandhi, has given us a solid candidate and we hope to emerge victorious in Lucknow on the plank of stability and non-development of the PM's constituency,'' claims Dr Ashok Bahar, one of his poll managers.

Actually there is hardly any contest despite the stature of Dr Singh as an intellectual and political figure. It shall remain a mystery why Dr Singh took up the challenge to become just a scapegoat for the Congress.