View of BJP office on the day of counting of votes for Lok Sabha elections, at the party office in New Delhi, Tuesday, June 4, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
New Delhi: With early trends showing a downturn for the Bharatiya Janata Party when compared to the thumping majority they were promised by renowned pollsters in exit polls, celebrations were muted within the party headquarters even as there was hectic activity in response to the results trickling in.
Outside, however, celebrations continued unabated without a hitch.
As the day began, the party’s plans to arrange for food for thousands of workers was in full swing, and by 8 am, by the time the counting process began, quintals of laddoos and food for more than a thousand people were already ready.
With a fair amount of uncertainty about how the results and the eventual schedule of events will pan out, several BJP leaders were heard asking reporters to wait till the picture was indeed clear.
“Unless we know for sure that one party has won a certain number of seats or not, there’s no reason for us to believe that the BJP is not forming the government for the third time,” a senior spokesperson of the party from Uttar Pradesh said.
A BJP worker holds 'laddoos' on the day of counting of votes for Lok Sabha elections, in New Delhi, Tuesday, June 4, 2024.
Credit: PTI Photo
Contrary to expectations, the party did not deploy senior Rajya Sabha faces such as union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Hardeep Puri to take on media questions and sit in the TV studios.
Younger faces were manning the booths for live TV transmissions. The only senior hands in the picture were former union minister Shahnawaz Hussain, general secretary Tarun Chugh, minority morcha chief Zafar Islam, and senior spokespersons, KK Sharma and Gopal Agarwal.
Several younger faces, including Jaiveer Shergill and Radhika Khera, were among those deployed by BJP to field media queries.
At one point, amid a buzz of an impending meeting of senior party leaders to dwell over the party results, banners showing Narendra Modi with captions such as “Gareeb Ko Ghar Dene Wale Ki Jeet" (Victory to those who gave houses to the poor) and "Sabka Saath Sabka Pyaar” (We are with everyone, everyone loves us) were removed from the party’s new annexe building.
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