Campaigning for the assembly and Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh finally came to an end on Saturday evening, much to the relief of people who have been bearing the brunt of rallies, road shows, door-to-door campaigns and bombardment of messages, videos and pictures on social media.
But for the political parties and their candidates in 175 assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha seats, the real tension has begun as they are keeping their fingers crossed how the voters would give their verdict on the polling day on Monday.
Political observers who have been touring different parts of Andhra Pradesh in the last two weeks have made an interesting observation: that it is very difficult to read the people’s pulse in the state, as they are not forthcoming to express their opinion who they would prefer – YSR Congress Party or the NDA.
“In the 2019 elections, it was very much evident which way the wind was sailing well ahead of the electioneering began. The people used to express their opinion openly in favour of YSRCP – either because they did not like Chandrababu Naidu’s governance or they wanted to give Jagan Mohan Reddy a chance to rule the state to see the difference in government in the residuary Andhra Pradesh,” a political analyst said.
This time, the voters are not disclosing their mind. Both Jagan and Naidu received huge public response to their public meetings, roadshows and street corner meetings.
Even Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan and Congress president Y S Sharmila also witnessed massive turnout of crowds to their meetings.
This has led to the confusion which way the voters are inclined to.
“There is complete silence on the part of voters in most places, though in certain places, it is quite evident which way the verdict would go. Even the strategy teams of YSRCP and the TDP – Indian Political Action Committee and Showtime Consulting – are not able to guess the verdict,” the analyst said.
The journalists of various media houses, who are virtually divided into two camps – one supporting Naidu and other supporting Jagan – are not giving an exact picture of what is going to be the outcome of the elections.
The only answer that is heard now is: “It is going to be a tough battle. The balance might swing either way.” So, it is better to wait till June 4 than making a wild guess!