The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP combine and the Congress have booked huge chunks of space in the print and the electronic media. Both have arranged to give out the most damaging ads through proxy organisations to beat any legal hassle and both are equally vicious when it comes to attacking the top leaders.

However, going by the planning and execution of the ad war, the SAD-BJP combine is way ahead of the Congress. The combine’s ads are well-researched with potent, hard-hitting messages. The campaign attempts to demolish the promises made by the Congress in its manifesto. Many of the ads attack the Amarinder Singh government’s claims.

The Captain, who seems to be a favourite target, is often depicted as a maharaja given to royal splendour. One the first ads released by the Akalis showed Singh lounging in luxury in Dubai while farmers commit suicide back home. One proxy advertisement, issued ostensibily in the name of AISSF, lists the Captain's "corrupt coterie" and describes the chief minister as "Commander-in-Thief". Among those named in the ad are state finance minister Surinder Singla, his colleagues Choudhary Jasjit Singh and Raghunath Puri, former media adviser BIS Chahal and political secretary Rana Sodhi. It also names the owner of a TV channel and a liquor baron. The punch line: Rs 9958 crore looted by this gang.

The Congress struck back with ads featuring caricatures of Parkash Singh Badal and his son Sukhbir Singh Badal. One ad, issued under the name of Akali Dal, Delhi, depicts the elder Badal as a corrupt politician. Another one holds him and his son responsible for a pesticide scandal.

Perhaps, the most interesting series of ads is on the contentious water-sharing issue. The Congress came out with an ad showing Badal and former Haryana chief minister Om Parkash Chautala hand-in-glove in a conspiracy to deprive Punjab of water. Badal is shown as accepting funds from Haryana under the agreement.

The SAD-BJP combine hit back with an ad featuring an old newspaper clipping welcoming former PM Indira Gandhi for the inauguration of the SYL project. It also carries a picture of Amarinder Singh in his younger days.

However, the latest contribution to the ad-wars comes not from the parties themselves, but news channels. The Congress has lapped up a recent poll survey conducted by CNN-IBN-HT which gives an advantage of 5 per centage points to the Congress over the SAD-BJP combine. The party followed it up with several ads claiming the survey to be a sign of its imminent victory.

The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, which had conducted the survey, then clarified that it was done in the second week of January and said: “The experience of Indian election shows that voting preferences can and often do change in the period after the declaration of candidates and the election campaign”.

The survey was followed by nearly half a dozen others - with half of them claiming that the SAD (B)-BJP combine was ahead and the others asserting that the Congress would retain power.