In the end, it was north
Gujarat's
Modasa seat that denied
BJP a century in the state. In the final rounds of counting, when just seven results were left to be declared and BJP was batting on 99 (wins and leads), Modasa was witnessing a tense, neck-and-neck battle. The
Congress candidate led by just 147 votes when counting was held up for verification of VVPAT trails. Then, the postal ballots were counted and the result announced. Congress had won by 1,640 votes, leaving BJP stranded one short of the three-figure mark.
The suspense in the final rounds capped a see-saw day that began with a stunning trend. Around 9am, one hour after counting of votes began, Congress pulled slightly ahead of the BJP in terms of seat leads, leading to a talking head on a TV channel attributing the 'reverse' to BJP's 'arrogance'. Celebrations began at Congress HQ and social media went berserk at the prospect of a major upset. Asked for his reaction, Congress's Gujarat in-charge
Ashok Gehlot did well to suppress his emotions and give a bland 'let's wait for the final result' comment.
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That turned out to a wise remark as BJP soon bounced back and took the lead in 107 seats. However, the ruling party's tally then slowly began to reduce, reaching a low of 96 at one point before settling at 99, at which point all eyes turned to Modasa.
