Poll Results, World Cup: Strange Similarities

In Gujarat, the Congress must have felt like the Swiss in Doha.
Suffering at the hands of both the BJP and the AAP, they seemed to lack a goalkeeper.
In Himachal, although a victory for the Congress, the tenor was more akin to Spain versus Morocco.
The underdog triumphed, points out Shyam G Menon.

It was the night of December 6, 2022.

The second-class compartment of the Mumbai local train I was in, was crowded.

From where I stood, through the gaps in the bodies packed around me, I saw a man watching the evening's FIFA World Cup match on his smartphone.

I tapped him on the shoulder and asked who was playing.

"Its Spain versus Morocco. The game has begun," he said.

I knew that the match was important. Through the qualifying rounds and the pre-quarters, none of the lesser-ranked teams had given up without a fight.

Some of those tussles even resulted in big names humbled. Spain had won the World Cup before. Yet, nothing could be taken for granted.

That was the mood in which I got off at my station and hurried home to settle down for a dinner over football.

The match proved to be a contest in tenacity; one side attacking repeatedly, the other largely defending and occasionally raiding.

Ninety minutes of play yielded no winner. Neither did extra time.

In the end it was a tie-breaker. Morocco won. Spain was eliminated from the competition.

With the World Cup advanced to quarter final stage following the matches of December 6 night, December 7 and 8 had no matches scheduled.

Players and fans in Qatar must have rested.

In India, a different game was afoot. The morning of December 7 commenced with media focus on elections to Delhi's municipal corporation; it was the day of results.

Exit polls had predicted a major victory for the Aam Aadmi Party, the first time in many years that Delhi's corporation may slip out of BJP control.

Everyone knew it wouldn't be easy. In no contest can one expect a party like the BJP or its league of supporters, to walk off into the sunset peacefully.

After all, it is India's biggest and wealthiest political party.

Ever since it came to power at the Centre in 2013, the country's politics have become ultra-competitive and vindictive.

The BJP has a smothering effect. For months, the political opposition has tried to create an enduring dent.

The overall ambiance of the contest has been similar to that of a football match featuring a blockbuster team.

Fans of the smaller side may beat their drums and sing their songs.

But the roar of the giant drowns them out. If your urge is merely to be with the winning side, better switch loyalty and roar along.

Early trends in the counting of votes are like the lead pack of a marathon. It's hard to say who will win; one waits for somebody to make a move.

On the day of election result, this usually takes a few hours, sometimes more, depending on the scale of the contest.

Eventually, Delhi's 2022 municipal election elicited two signal outcomes.

The AAP triumphed; the BJP lost. But the gap in the number of seats was not significant and in pockets, where the BJP risked reversals, it appeared to have held.

The AAP was soon closing ranks to prevent defections. Penalty shoot-out after a victory or loss established, does not happen in football. In politics, it does.

Compared to December 7, the poll results of the following day fell in a different league.

It pertained to elections to two state assemblies; one of them a big state and arguably the BJP's favourite, having been its political laboratory and context for the current prime minister's earlier avatar as chief minister.

Not surprisingly, Narendra Modi ensured that he did a whirlwind campaign in Gujarat.

In the season of FIFA World Cup in Doha, the BJP's election promises included a 'Gujarat Olympics Mission' to hold the Olympic Games in Gujarat in 2036.

On election day, Modi's arrival at a polling booth to vote was a spectacle.

The drama angered political competitors restrained by election rules.

On December 6, the Indian Express reported that a complaint was filed with the state's election commission on the matter.

Exit polls forecast a BJP win in Gujarat.

It is unlikely anyone thought differently. As much as the BJP is India's biggest political party, it is identified most strongly with some states, Gujarat being prominent therein.

When the counting of votes started, the results followed the expected pattern with perhaps, a boost.

By late afternoon on December 8, with the BJP headed for a landslide victory in Gujarat, AAP leading in a few seats and the Congress's tally sharply reduced from before; the BJP's win paralleled that of the less discussed World Cup match from the intervening night of December 6-7.

That night, besides Morocco pulling off an upset by defeating Spain, Portugal had obliterated Switzerland 6-1 with no extra time or tie-breaker. The Swiss were swamped.

In Gujarat, the Congress must have felt like the Swiss in Doha. Suffering at the hands of both the BJP and the AAP, they seemed to lack a goalkeeper.

Not so however, for the second election result of December 8.

In Himachal Pradesh, a state thinking differently from Gujarat, the celebratory mood around the BJP's triumph in western India, was checked.

Here the Congress led. Although a victory for the Congress, the tenor was more akin to Spain versus Morocco.

The underdog triumphed. Knowing the BJP, one can't rule out post poll penalty shoot outs.

After two days of surrogate football, the real game recommences from December 9.

Shyam G Menon is a Mumbai-based columnist.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com