Now, wait for results

Now, wait for results

With election to the 17th Lok Sabha finally coming to an end on Sunday, it is now time for everyone to keep speculating which party or alliance would have the last laugh. Since the counting of votes will take place only on May 23, most people across the country will be busy either trying to make their own calculations about the possible outcome, or remain under the influence of the media – particularly the television news channels and the social media – to understand exactly which side the wind actually blew. On Sunday, which was the last of the seven-phase election, over ten crore voters decided the fate of as many as 918 candidates in 59 constituencies across seven states and one Union Territory. These 59 seats were – 13 each in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, nine in West Bengal, eight in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat of Chandigarh, the last a Union Territory. In 2014, the BJP had won 30 of these 59 seats that went to the polls on Sunday. Alongside these, repolling was held in seven booths in Kerala’s Kannur and Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituencies after the Election Commission had confirmed that bogus voting took place in those booths on April 23. The seven-phase election in fact began on April 11, and is on the verge of winding up to go down in the history of independent India as one of the most controversy-ridden elections. While several political parties and their leaders resorted to a lot of flouting of code of conduct, this election also so certain parties making dangerous attempts to polarise the voters on communal and religious lines. Several candidates and leaders, on the other hand, made horrible statements including the one about Nathuram Godse, thus exposing before the people of the country how low politicians can stoop in the interest of grabbing power. West Bengal on the other hand stood out to be a test case where a chief minister who also heads her party had gone to the extent of hurling abuses at the Prime Minister of the country with the sole intention of trying to prevent erosion in her vote-bank which she had only a few years ago snatched from the Left Front. In fact, the most vitriolic exchanges in this election have perhaps been between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee – one which could even be a topic of research for social scientists. A sizeable section of people of West Bengal on the other hand have reportedly realised what price they have been paying for voting the Left Front out and bringing the Trinamul Congress in. Prime Minister Modi himself had landed in a series of controversies, especially as the opposition Congress accused him of using the Army’s name for seeking votes. Likewise, Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s utterances too had raked up a lot of controversies, with the courts of law having to pull him up several times amid the hustings. The media too have been accused of taking sides, one section clearly appearing to be campaigning in favour of Modi and his BJP and another section working like mouthpieces of the Congress.

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