As soon as the results started being announced on Results Day, AAP workers started to wear a worried expression. The party’s top boss was hoping that they will get at least 16 seats and had the maximum hope from states such as Delhi, UP, Haryana and Maharashtra. But the seats actually came from Punjab, and some of them included those that were not even being considered for a win. AAP leaders who salivate at the sight of media were a bundle of embarrassment when neither Yogendra Yadav, Gopal Rai nor Prashant Bhushan were ready to address the media. Finally Manish Sisaudia had to come forward to and hold fort. Where Delhi is concerned, Kejriwal gave the responsibility to someone called Ashish Talwar. AAP workers had a common complaint that Talwar’s attitude to them was quite rude but Kejriwal did not pay attention to these complaints from his party workers. In any case, it is no longer easy for the regular party workers to access Kejriwal. Sources reveal that there is cash crunch in running the party operations. That is because most of the donations worth about Rs 50 crore that the party got during election time was spent in Kejriwal’s roadshow. Nearly 5,000 party workers came there to attend the event and the party had to bear their boarding and lodging costs.

Nitin Gadkari has given his all to the next innings as the party president. It is believed that for this, he first got the silent approval from Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat. After that he approached Rajnath Singh. Sources reveal that because Assembly elections are due to be held in six states in the near future, instead of becoming a minister in Modi’s Cabinet, Rajnath wants to complete his tenure as party president. But if he gets a crucial ministry such as Defence or Home, Rajnath might reconsider his stand. Where Gadkari is concerned, he too has repeated the same outlook as Rajnath to Modi, saying that if he is not made the party president, he should be given a portfolio such as Home or Defence.

When Mulayam Singh had a face-off with same-caste Ramakant Yadav in Azamgarh, Mulayam’s manager felt that Netaji might lose. So he was advised that he send his daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav to campaign for him so that women voters could be influenced. By then Mulayam had also made an emotional appeal to the public in Azamgarh, saying, “Mainpuri is his heart and Azamgarh his heartbeat.” But it didn’t have the expected effect and Akhilesh’s wife Dimple was also not ready to campaign there because she somehow felt that if Netaji wins from both seats, he will vacate his Azamgarh seat for his second son Prateek Yadav. And everybody knows that how Netaji managed to win from Azamgarh for just merely a margin of 36,000 votes.

While on one hand India’s Sensex has reached newer heights since an exit poll got leaked, on the other, those harbouring dreams of becoming a minister in the Modi Cabinet have started to make the perfunctory rounds around Modi and his close aide Amit Shah. The leaders from Madhya Pradesh have taken a lead in this obeisance, the very same ones who thought Shivraj was far ahead of Modi. These political leaders have now changed their loyalties. BJP senior leader Yashwant Sinha and N K Singh, who recently joined the BJP, are eyeing the seat of vice-chairman’s post in the Planning Commission. Arun Shourie and Arun Jaitley both are going to stake their claim to the finance minister’s post. If Shourie misses, he can then try for heading the National Advisory Council. Sushma Swaraj is looking at portfolios such as defence and foreign affairs and M V Kamath, too, may get an important one such as economic affairs. Sridharan may be the country’s next railways minister. Smriti Irani and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi are both contenders for the information and broadcasting ministry. Rajnath Singh has his eyes on home ministry, Ravi Shankar Prasad wants law for himself, and Maneka Gandhi may get health ministry. Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri may get surface transport, and Satyapal Singh might become the minister of state for home affairs if he manages to defeat Ajit Singh. Uma Bharti may also get an important portfolio, BJP’s National Treasurer Piyush Goyal is eyeing the state minister for finance . Nitin Gadkari may get a ministry such as industry or commerce, and while Advani is in line to become the President. Swapan Dasgupta has joined the ranks of those who want to become India’s High Commission to the UK. Modi might get a sulking Jaswant Singh back in the BJP so that a check and balance may be maintained on Vasundhara Raje.

For the past nine-10 years, Ruchir Gupta of Morgan Stanley takes a group of national and international journalists on an intensive tour of India for a deep analysis and study of Indian elections. For the 2014 General Elections, too, Joshi went to the interiors of Bihar and UP with his group of national-international journalists. The group included Indian journalists such as Suman Dubey, Prannoy Roy, Shekhar Gupta and M K Venu. When the group reached Hajipur in Bihar, a Narendra Modi rally was on in support of Ram Vilas Paswan. The group of journalists was made to sit in the front row and Modi was just about to finish his speech when he saw Prannoy Roy and Shekhar Gupta sitting in the front row and he took control of the mike once more. He then addressed the public saying, “Beware of these media traders.” The group was shocked and contacted Amit Shah as soon as it reached Varanasi and started to offer clarifications. Amit Shah assured them that Modi never does politics with ill-feelings or revenge.

A common toilet, which has remained ignored for decades, has become a new political agenda in the 2014 General Elections. It started at the fag-end of the UPA-II rule, when Central Minister Jairam Ramesh called it even more important than the Devalaya (God’s resting places). In their manifestos, several political parties promised crores of Indians a decent toilet. BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi started several of his election rally speeches by talking about the importance of toilets in Indian society. When Modi went to Amethi for a rally in favour of Smriti Irani, he made a taunt at the Gandhi family and said, “So many women in Amethi don’t even have access to a decent toilet, something that is crucial to maintaining a woman’s dignity. Modi also told how thousands of girls would pull out of school because there were no separate toilet facilities for them. Keeping this in mind, he built 70,000 toilets in schools. Reliable sources reveal that if Modi wins from Varanasi, he will start his Parliamentary innings by inaugurating the almost-built Sulabh Public Toilet Complex in the BHU campus.
But due to the elections going on and the political upheavals, one big news just missed becoming the headline. And that is the prestigious BBC Horizon has announced famous social revolutionist Dr Bindeshwar Pathak’s “Two pit pore flush technology” that is a part of Sulabh Shauchalaya as named it as one of the world’s five biggest inventions. The BBC also expressed concern that half of India’s population does not have access to toilets and have to defecate in the open everyday. Here’s hoping that the new government that will take charge at the Centre will understand the importance of Sulabh Shauchalaya, one of the biggest inventions in the world.

Ever since the saffron arm of the Gandhi family, Varun Gandhi, decided to contest elections from Sultanpur, a constituency next to Amethi, he is the target of his elder sister Priyanka Gandhi. It is worth mentioning here that in 2009, both brothers got record wins – Rahul from Amethi and Varun from Pilibhit. But this time it is being said that it won’t be easy for Rahul to garner support. If he does manage to win the Amethi seat in one way or another, his margin will not be too significant. On the other hand, Varun was moving towards a sure win in Sultanpur. So Priyanka tried a clever trick so that her younger brother loses his focus. Sources reveal that just three days before the polling in Sultanpur, she supplied a big sum of money to BSP’s candidate Pavan Pandey who is contesting in Sultanpur. Apart from this, the Congress workers in the constituency were told that they should support Pandey instead of party’s candidate Rani Sahiba that is Amita Singh. So Varun’s win margin may have come down there, but it seems like Amita Singh will stand fourth here. But Varun still seems to be winning with more votes than Rahul.

Ananth Kumar was staying out in Varanasi to campaign for Narendra Modi. Seeing him there, a local BJP politician asked him, “Weren’t you in Advani camp and raising your voice against his candidature as the prime minister along with Sushma Swaraj?” Sources reveal that Ananth seemed to concede as much and replied that there is no place for self-respect in politics nowadays; he was ready to rub his nose on Modi’s shoe. The same story goes for BJP’s Vijay Goyal. He came straight to Varanasi after campaigning for Arun Jaitley in Amritsar with the hope that the party will consider his claims to becoming Delhi’s chief minister.

Modi may well know that the polarization of Muslim votes that is happening may not be in his favour, but he hasn’t given up hope. He kept trying to assure the Muslim community that he is not against Muslims and they he wants to see in the Muslim youth’s hands both the Quran and the computer. Apart from this, a group of Muslim businessmen were going around in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and telling Muslim communities in other states how the Muslims are prospering in Modi’s rule. They had also made short films to show how minorities are doing well there and showed them pictures through projectors. The films have also shown the voices of the Muslim youth and stress is laid on the fact that apart from their religion, Muslims will also be given a chance to improve their future. The attempts may not have converted Muslim votes in Modi’s favour but a degree of flexibility has sure happened in their views of him.

P Chidambaram’s luck seems to have gone dry, so these days he is in constant touch with astrologers and pandits. Chidambaram contacted an astrologer he is close to and asked him what the results will be if he contested the elections from Shivganga. Mr Astrologer went through his chart and told him that the stars in his chart were not aligned well at all and that if he contested the elections, his deposit may be forfeited. So Chidambaram thought it was wise to have his son Karti contest from Shivganga. But it seems that Karti’s astrological stars aren’t shining too bright either, because his Ketu in Shani is under a Mahadasha and thus it is not possible for him to win the election. Maybe that is the reason that in the polling that ended on April 24 saw Karti way behind his AIDMK opponent Senthil Nathan P R. On the advice of his astrologers, Chidambaram is now doing pooja to appease his stars.

But it is worth mentioning here that Chidambaram is not alone. It is said that a minister in Akhilesh Yadav’s government Manoj Pandey organised a Mahayagna to appease Mulayam Singh’s stars, which was attended by the latter with his son Akhilesh. Sources also reveal that to ensure his win from Badayun, Mulayam’s nephew Dharmendra Yadav held a Tantric pooja, too, and has ordered several expensive stones to wear. BJP President Rajnath Singh is one of the most ardent devotees of Ma Vindhyavasini Devi. To ensure his win from Lucknow, a Vijay Yagya is being held at Mirzapur’s Ma Vindhyavasini Devi’s temple. Apart from this, Rajnath has also asked for a mannat at Hazrat Kasim Shahid’s tomb.

BJP’s veteran leader Kalraj Mishra is also doing pooja and obeisance to ensure his win in Devariya. A prominent Congress leader has organised a Das Mahavidha Anushthan and Shat Chandi Paath for Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. Lalu Yadav may go around town announcing how secular he is but a special pooja is being held for him in Jaunpur’s Pagla Baba Ashram. A Das Mahavidha pooja is being organised in Valsad in Gujarat for Narendra Modi and one lakh chanting of Bajrang Baan and Hanuman Kavach are taking place for him at Sankatmochan Temple. Apart from this Varanasi’s Vishvanath Mandir saw Rudrabhishek taking place for Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal. Clearly, the politicians are at the mercy of the Gods as well as the politicians during elections.