Lucknow : It is 10.30 a.m. at BJP state headquarters. There are a few hours left for results of the Assembly elections to pour in but the excitement of exit polls, which indicated the party will retain power, is not palpable.
A lone sweeper mechanically brushes away falling leaves and a few vehicles are parked in the compound.
None of the senior state leaders are at the office and the few local leaders are apprehensive about commenting on the exit polls.
“Dekhiya kya hota hai? (Lets see what happens)” says one while another chips in with “Wait and watch.”
Clearly, the leaders are apprehensive. “There is so much difference in the exit polls that we are rather confused,” says one.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been in Gorakhpur since the past three days and will return to the state capital only after results are declared.
His absence from the “scene of action” has dampened the spirits of party workers.
At 12.p.m., the imposing gates of the Samajwadi Party state headquarters are firmly locked and only chosen few are allowed to enter.
SP President Akhilesh Yadav is inside, discussing the political scenario with party colleagues.
Phones in the officer are ringing furiously and important ones are being diverted to his office.
“Akhilesh ji is taking stock of the situation in various districts and is making sure that our party workers are guarding the strong rooms where EVMs are kept. There have been efforts to change and tamper with EVM and the exit polls are completely manipulated,” says a party functionary on condition of anonymity.
Outside the party office, scores of party workers are gathered around stalls selling tea and ‘baati chokha’.
More than the exit polls, they can be heard avidly discussing the bets of bookies in the ‘satta’ markets.
“The ‘satta market’ is much more reliable that the exit polls. Huge bets are being laid on a SP government and we would like to believe this,” says a former office bearer.
Akash Gupta, who runs ‘baati chokha’ stall on Vikramaditya Marg, says that most of his customers are confident of the SP forming government. “If that happens, my business will boom,” he says with a smile.
At 1.30.p.m. the Congress state headquarters is completely deserted. Most of the rooms in the state office are locked and staff tells visitors that no leader is available right now. “They are either in their constituencies or in their homes,” he says nonchalantly.
The tea stalls outside the UPCC office are equally deserted.
One of the tea stall owners said: “It is only when Priyanka Gandhi comes here that there is a sizeable presence of party workers otherwise, no one comes here.”
“The Congress is working for 2024 Lok Sabha elections. They are not interested in state elections.”
The mobile phones of most of the state leaders were switched off on Wednesday.
At 3.p.m. the Bahujan Samaj Party state office’s blue gates are firmly locked and four security men with an inexplicable frown stand guard outside.
There is no pre-election buzz and no office bearers who can be reached out to.
The entry of media persons is strictly banned. The few vendors have been shooed away and the parking is almost empty. Mayawati’s residence, which is a stone’s throw away from the party office, also is out of bounds for visitors.
There is no talk of election results and the few staff members who saunter in and out of the party office and Mayawati’s residence, refuse to even talk about poll results.
–IANS