Monday evening saw the end of a long, arduous, exhilarating and an amply controversial election season where the BJP emerged victorious in both Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
Based on latest election commission data, the BJP is confirmed to have crossed the majority mark after winning 96 seats and are leading on 3 others. In Himachal the BJP swept the polls after winning 34 as per latest data and leading on 10 others.
Things though weren’t looking so simple in the morning after BJP and the Congress were moving neck to neck in Gujarat, based on initial trends. This sent a shiver down BJP supporters’ spine, as is evident by the number of Retweets on this post:
RT if you were scared at one point of time during #GujaratVerdict?
— Ashu? (@muglikar_) December 18, 2017
On one hand some were getting scared and on the other, it was supposedly ‘euphoria’ time for others:
A gigantic thappad has been delivered in Gujarat. Elections 2019 looking interesting suddenly !
— Shobhaa De (@DeShobhaa) December 18, 2017
That extreme excitement in NDTV studio between 9:30-10 AM when Congress was leading.. man.. Roy sahab to Ganguly dada ki tarah shirt khol ke ghumaane waale the.. #GujaratVerdict
— Paresh Rawal (@Babu_Bhaiyaa) December 18, 2017
One user accurately captured the initial emotions via the lens of EVM tampering:
8:00 AM – EVM working fine. Rahulji forming govt!
10:00 AM – EVM may be malfunctioning. Rahulji forming govt with outside support
12:00 PM – EVM developing faults. Rahulji putting up brave fight
02:00 PM – EVM 100% hacked. Modi may have won elections, but Rahulji won hearts
— गीतिका (@ggiittiikkaa) December 18, 2017
Soon things stabilised for the BJP and it looked like the party might comfortably get the majority. Having said that, the party though fell way short of Amit Shah’s target of 150 seats, and one twitter explained why:
Amit Shah targeted 150
28% GST on 150 = 42
Gujjus delivered 108
#GujaratVerdict#Explained— Shaitaan Khopdi™?? (@shaitaankhopdi) December 18, 2017
Some analysed the challenge which the BJP was facing:
Congress couldn’t beat one term anti incumbency in HP. BJP beat 22 years of anti incumbency in Gujarat. Sorry, but for now, the margin doesn’t matter. The victory in itself is massive.
— Nupur (@UnSubtleDesi) December 18, 2017
– 22 years of Anti Incumbency
– Modi not in Gujarat as CM
– Patidar Agitation
– Demonetisation
– GST
– Massive Social Media campaignStill Rahul Gandhi couldn’t win Gujarat & Congress thinks he will be PM in 2019.#GujaratVerdict
— PhD in Bakchodi (@Atheist_Krishna) December 18, 2017
Even though the BJP had almost won, a few people took a stance of cautious optimism:
Gujarat election results are a wake up call for the BJP for a simple reason: 2019 elections are not going to be about whether Modi will return to power. It will be about whether he returns to power with a full majority govt or a coalition govt in which seculars will have stake.
— Divya Kumar Soti (@DivyaSoti) December 18, 2017
BJP’s big gap is in the middle – both the top and the bottom are delivering. Men of the match in Gujarat were PM Modi & the booth-level Karyakartas who brought votes. Mid-level leaders have near zero impact!
— Dr Praveen Patil (@5Forty3) December 18, 2017
One journalist took a potshot at what the future narrative might be:
Gujarat and Himachal is fine, but RK nagar by-election will be real litmus test for Mr Modi and BJP
— Padmaja joshi (@PadmajaJoshi) December 18, 2017
Some leftists websites even seem to be in no mood to waste time:
After loss in Gujarat, the ecosystem’s war against religious harmony and national unity to gain momentum pic.twitter.com/1rQjQwWXhw
— Adi/Reviewero (@reviewero) December 18, 2017
Even though Gujarat wasn’t the smoothest ride the BJP has had in recent times, the party might consider the elections to be a success nonetheless, and may start working on ways to further consolidate its position in Indian politics during the days to come.
