Day before results: Waiting for ‘history’ at BJP, Congress headquarters

At one end, a white shamiana with orange and green stripes is set up with separate booths for media houses. Atop a flight of stairs on the other side is perched a projector with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s live speech playing to an absent audience. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s route for Tuesday’s procession is laid out with potential arrangements for flower showers and ample space to host the crowds.

On Monday, the BJP office on Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg looked all set for a Lok Sabha poll win.

However, one thing stood out: There seemed to be no consensus on the NDA winning 400 seats as was promised during innumerable rallies. Numbers, though, seem to matter little to the party.

Responding to a question on the “400 paar” chant, Sanjay Mayukh, a BJP MLC from Bihar, said, “Number janta degi (The people will give the numbers)”.

Echoing Mayukh, BJP media panelist Shaina NC said numbers are “immaterial”. Shaina, who has been at the office for three months so far, believed “history was being created” and that “MIT and Harvard will have case studies” on how the “BJP won a third-term with a thumping majority”.

However, a BJP worker, who has been with the party for 7-8 years, does put a number on it — 300-350 for the BJP alone. He says that the Opposition’s narrative of the BJP’s plans to “change the Constitution” holds no weight. “Ek din mein koi Samvidhan ko kaise badal sakta hai (How can we change the Constitution in one day?”

National spokesperson Tom Vadakkan, who was earlier with the Congress, said the “exit polls” are a “messenger” and “an indicator” of things to happen. In Kerala, his home state and where the BJP hopes to make a breakthrough as part of its push in the South, he sees “green shoots”. He lists