Gujarat elections: Close, but no cigar

The electorate appears to have seen this election not as an exuberant dance of democracy but a bothersome ritual it could not avoid

Shreekant Sambrani 

Shreekant Sambrani It would be no exaggeration to say that the most thrilling moments of the exhausting battle for the Gujarat Assembly occurred in the half hour between 9.30 am and 10 am on Monday, December 18.

The leads changed from one moment to another, from one channel to another. News anchors known even otherwise for their hyperkinetic manner were nearly apoplectic with excitement as they announced, “Congress ahead!” But thereafter, it was a continuation of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) long-foretold ascendancy. Spin meisters of both the BJP and the Congress are already at ...

First Published: Mon, December 18 2017. 22:39 IST