As the canvas is blurred, it is better not to get driven by the poll surveys of different agencies and channels, which have already lost their credibility in the past

Against the expectations of record-breaking polling this time, there is no change in the poll percentage compared with 2012 Vidhan Sabha polls (78.6 per cent). This fact has now left the poll observers confused who were otherwise quite confident in highlighting their projection of Aam Aadmi Party’s absolute victory in the state.

With a projection of the “highest ever” resentment among the masses against the party in power, for the past about two months there was a loud noise people foreseeing the ruling alliance being decimated and hardly any survey was showing the alliance touching 20 mark.

However, after seeing the turn out much below than the expectations (as EC was also expecting it crossing 85 mark), the punters too have started going for a fresh survey to invite next bids. A ‘whole-hearted’ support of Dera Sacha Sauda extended to the SAD-BJP alliance has also emerged as a major factor that disturbed the calculations of all.

Interesting fact, if looked at the things with no prejudice, one will find that the Akalis and Congress people are equally confident to win the polls without complaining against anyone. However, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is little different from them as the party leadership despite claiming victory over 100 seats carries a grudge against the Election Commission for different reasons.

The AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal nurses anguish against the Election Commission for not starting the polling at 7 am as it happened in Goa. Though Chief Electoral Officer Punjab V K Singh on Saturday made his representative Sanjay Singh understand the fact that it was not a simple announcement which could be changed at anytime but a gazette notification, issued by the Election Commission of India, after keeping all relevant facts in consideration, Kejriwal still claims that “it was a ‘mischievous’ gesture to decrease the victory margin of the AAP.”

Further, the AAP also sees the occurrence of technical snag in some EVMs as another ploy to hit the party. “Was it a mischief done deliberately by or in collusion with EC?” Kejriwal tweeted.

If the AAP claims itself to be the peoples’ choice to break the alleged nexus between the arch rivals -the SAD-BJP and Congress, the Congress claims to be the wind in its favour for standing at the best position to rule the state flaunting its experience of the past. And amid the claims of the two, the Shiromani Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party leadership find people having voted again for the alliance, banking upon its poll plank of development.

With all three major players claiming absolute victory, there is a sizeable section of the society that foresees the hung assembly, estimating that none of them was in a position to cross the 59-seat mark to sit on the treasury benches in the 117-member Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

For the confusion, if one has to blame something it will certainly be the use and misuse of social media. The political parties and their candidates exploited it to their best during the whole of campaign. The AAP and Congress were found on offensive mode, whereas the Akali Dal, for being in power for 10 consecutive years, was on slightly defensive mode.

Numerous reports were spread across the globe through different modes of the social media, primarily Whatsapp, Youtube and Twitter, a majority of which was later found factually incorrect, including forged letters of SGPC and Akal Takht and also the fake news of family relations between Badals and Amarinder, but the perpetrators were successful in making dent on the innocent voters’ mindset.

As the canvas is blurred, it is always better not to get driven by the poll surveys of different agencies and channels, which have already lost their credibility in the past. Fortunately, after seeing the biased reports in the name of Opinion Polls, the EC has now banned the Exit Polls.

Amid such situation, where the elections have been held without any major violent incident and no report of big seizure of cash and drugs on the polling day, it is better to look at the big smiles on the faces of the candidates whose fate is sealed in EVMs and wait for the EC to declare the result on March 11. Till date, let’s resume the routine job with the same vigour and passion!

For more news updates Follow and Like us on Facebook