An air of expectancy pervades Gujarat a day ahead of the second and final phase of Assembly polls after an acrimony-filled campaign for the key western state ended yesterday.
Plumes of dust raised by campaign vehicles have settled down and loudspeakers at election rallies have fallen silent after 49 days of frenzied electioneering by leaders of the ruling BJP and challenger Congress that seeks to reclaim power after being in the opposition for 22 years.
The hustings this time were dominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who powered the BJP's campaign in his home state, while Congress's president-designate Rahul Gandhi was the party's face in the elections.
"Never before I had seen both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress president-elect Rahul Gandhi coming here so frequently, at times on the same day, to woo voters," said shopkeeper Raju Doshi.
He somewhat misses the hustle and bustle of the high- octane campaign.
"It was hard to miss a single news ever since the campaigning began. It was pretty entertaining," he says.
The lull looks like a break from the routine after the protracted cut and thrust of high-decibel electoral politics.
"It's a lull before the real storm," says Amit Patel, a student, summing up the the mood of the state ahead of the crucial vote that will decide the winner on December 18, the day the ballots are counted.
"The fight is likely to be close given the aggressive campaigning by both the sides," says Patel.
Many poll watchers have predicted a dead heat between the two parties.
From the common man on the street to those in the lobbies of think tanks, there is near unanimity that the contest is too close to call, though the two major contenders to power are confident of their victory.
The tone of the campaign, which began on a somewhat subdued note with the talk of development politics, assumed rare stridency which saw the protagonists in the electoral arena making personal attacks against each other.
The acrimony between political rivals peaked with Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's "neech aadmi" barb at the prime minister, who used it as a stick to beat the rival party with rally after election rally.
The dying moments of electioneering saw a rare row break out after prime minister Modi seemed to suggest that Pakistan was trying to meddle in the Gujarat elections through his predecessor Manmohan Singh.
Addressing a rally in Palanpur on December 10, Modi claimed that some Pakistani officials and Manmohan Singh met at Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's house over dinner on December 6, a day before Aiyar's "neech" jibe against him.
Shedding his usual taciturnity, Manmohan Singh issued a strongly worded statement against Modi and demanded an apology.
"I sincerely hope that Prime Minister will show the maturity and gravitas expected of the high office he holds instead of concentrating his energy solely on erroneously conceived brownie points.
"I sincerely hope that he will apologize to the nation for his ill thought transgression to restore the dignity of the office he occupies," he said, adding he was "deeply pained and anguished" by the "falsehood and canards" being spread by the prime minister to score political points in what he said was a "lost cause" in Gujarat.
Gujarati pride remained the only constant in the rapidly changing election rhetoric of the BJP.
The party's campaign began with the 'Gujarat Gaurav Yatra' by the party and Modi repeatedly invoked the issue of injured Gujarati pride as he planned the end game, calling upon the electorate to "avenge" the insult on the 'son of Gujarat' by the Congress.
Whether the sense of Gujarati pride, which Modi appealed to, sways the voters in favour of the BJP, or the the prophecy of "zabardast" result by Rahul Gandhi comes true, will be known on December 20, the day the electorate's verdict is announced.
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