Front page
The Maharashtra and Haryana election results dominate almost all front pages Friday but there is stiff competition in The Times of India and Hindustan Times from multiple supplements and full-page Diwali advertisements. In depth coverage of the results saw HT dedicate up to nine pages, with the others ranging between 6-4 pages.
The Times of India
TOI carries two front pages — one solely on the election results – with a dramatic overarching headline on Page 1 — ‘Regional Roadbump Slows BJP Juggernaut’. The primary strap is also piquant and a mouthful: ‘BJP — Riding High on Article 370’s Nullification — Appeared Set to Steamroll the Oppn Again…But Three Regional Satraps — Two Dynasts and a State Cong Boss — Showed National Appeal Has its Limits”.
Nine stories cover different themes. On Haryana election results, it reports, “contrary to predictions…(BJP) managed to win only 40 seats”. “Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party won 10 seats, reducing Indian National Lok Dal with a solitary seat to a rump of the Chautala clan,” it writes.
TOI acknowledges the role of National Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra elections — ‘Old warhorse Pawar breathes life into NCP’ — where the NCP won 54 seats. It writes “just when epithets were being written to Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar…(he) fought serious odds and breathed fresh oxygen not only into his party…but into almost all regional parties.”
Its headline for a report on dynasts in Haryana says it all: ‘Dynasts have a field day in Haryana’s game of thrones’.
Hindustan Times
HT dedicates the flap and its front page to the results, illustrated with graphics. The headline on the flap emphasises the regional and national dislocation in the elections— ‘The National vs The Local’. It writes “the results show an interesting pattern” that while voters are “unwilling to look beyond Narendra Modi at the Centre, but they are less forgiving of the BJP’s local leadership”.
HT’s front-page headline addresses the Opposition — ‘BJP Wins, Opposition Rises’. In Maharashtra, it reports that the BJP-led NDA “won a simple, but not an overwhelming majority in Maharashtra, paving the way for Devendra Fadnavis, provided the Shiv Sena supports him, to become the first chief minister in over four decades to return to power”.
HT also reports on Pawar and Congress veteran Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s contribution to the results with ‘Old warhorses wage new battle’.
The Indian Express
Express’ headline ‘BJP, but…’ trails off to emphasise the nature of BJP’s victory. While BJP-Shiv Sena won in Maharashtra, it writes, the results “did not go according to script with the BJP suffering reverses in Vidarbha and Marathwada…managing 105 seats — way below the halfway mark of 144”.
The paper is the only one to focus on former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s absence with the report — ‘Rahul stays in shadow as Congress sees a glimmer’. “His silence Thursday is also the story of the Congress this assembly election”, writes Express. “Rahul Gandhi, until midnight, had not made a single comment, not even on Twitter”, it adds.
The Hindu
Hindu avoids all the hype in its simple, direct and straight-forward way. It focuses on Shiv Sena with the report — ‘Sena’s Uddhav insists on 50:50 formula’. “Upping the ante, Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray…said it was time to implement the 50:50 formula for power sharing”, it reports.
The paper notes that for the BJP “Govt. formation, the next challenge” in Haryana as the JJP “is expected to become kingmaker”.
The Telegraph
Telegraph, arguably, wins the election headline game with the spirited but opinionated headline — ‘Abrogated Arrogance 370’. An accompanying report writes, ‘Victor BJP bruised & battered financial capital’ and a report on opposition says — ‘Lesson for Opposition: Act like Opposition’.
A report on Sharad Pawar’s success quotes the Prime Minister’s words ‘Doob maro? Ha ha ha!’
Opinion
Hindu: ‘Hyper nationalism has its limits in Assembly polls’, writes Hindu. The BJP retained power in Maharashtra and emerged as the strongest in Haryana. But despite the “sluggish campaign and scattered thinking” of the Opposition, it “exceeded expectations” in both states.
TOI: ‘Opposition parties are back from the dead’, writes TOI. Five months after the opposition was “decimated” by the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, they are “back in the reckoning again”. BJP’s “aura of invincibility” has been broken. Now, “the Sena can now be expected to “bargain hard”, possibly even for a 50-50 split in ministries in Maharashtra.
HT: It lists key takeaways from the results. First, India’s democracy is “alive and kicking”. Second, the BJP and PM Modi may be “invincible” at the national level, but not at the local level. Third, “local leaders matter”. Fourth, “local issues matter”.
Express: The paper features two opinion pieces. The first on how the BJP “cannot take its winning streak for granted”. The second piece is about an opportunity for Congress in BJP’s “dimming numbers”. Congress was suffering from “resignations and desertions” until days before polling. Its leadership may feel that electoral success is “cyclical” and “its turn will come”, but such “smug optimism” is misplaced, it says.
Prime Time
‘Poll khol’ became ‘poll khel’ across channels all through Thursday.
The results’ “50:50” verdict for the BJP, appeared to have a sobering effect on news anchors and panelists, however, most channels were at pains to remind viewers that BJP had won, not lost.
On India Today, Rahul Kanwal found it ironic that despite winning both the states, the mood in the BJP was sombre, and despite losing, Congress was giving “gyaan”.
A very hoarse Arnab Goswami (on account of long hours on the air) with only 12 panelists on Republic TV turned to “uplifting news” from Jammu and Kashmir, where he claimed there was 98.2 per cent voter turnout in BDC council elections.
On CNN-News 18, Anand Narasimhan calmed down after his histrionics Tuesday-Wednesday and declared that the BJP had to accept that without Article 370 and the mandir issue, it would not have crossed 100 seats in Maharashtra.
NDTV 24×7: Anchors Sreenivasan Jain and Nidhi Razdan conducted a ‘Reality Check’ on the results.
“The Congress won 31 seats in Haryana, surprising everyone including itself,” observed Razdan, sarcastically.
They interviewed NCP’s Supriya Sule.
Sreenivasan Jain began with a caveat: “…the BJP still won — you fought a good fight but they still won.”
Sule replied that the odds were against them. “They tried to break us and then win the state. They imported a hell of a lot of people to win this battle,” she said.
Times Now: ‘What a day it has been!’ exclaimed anchor Navika Kumar on The NewsHour’s ‘Turning Point Election’. She was full of good cheer for the BJP — the ‘big takeaway’ from the elections was, “BJP earns record second term in Maharashtra and Haryana,” she said.
There was a cautionary tale from journalist Shekhar Iyer: “This election has exposed some deep fractures in (BJP-Sena) support base…in many urban clusters in both the states there is a crisis.”
“Well the BJP is not a party, which sits back to celebrate its previous victory,’’ observed Kumar.
BJP’s spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said, “Had we targeted 150 seats, it would have been termed a victory but since we targeted 200 seats in Maharashtra it seems to be a non-victory…”
Aaj Tak: Anchor Rohit Sardana on ‘Dangal’ described BJP’s situation in Haryana with the Hindi proverb ‘Hath ko aaya par munh na laga’ (Morsel was in the hand, but they were unable to taste it).
BJP’s Sudhanshu Trivedi insisted, “We still have the highest number of seats in Haryana and our vote percentage has also increased…’’
Political analyst Ashutosh said, “It is clear that the voters prefer the local issues in state elections. Congress needs to create a strong regional leadership.”
India TV: Here, the headline was gung-ho: “Is the winning of BJP in Haryana and Maharashtra an indication for party’s win in upcoming Delhi elections?”
BJP’s Manoj Tiwari sounded elated, “Even our rebel MLAs won,” he claimed.
Jannayak Janata Party’s Pradeep Deswal in Haryana said: “Other parties used to call us ‘vanaron ki sena’ (a clan of monkeys) and ‘50-100 ladkon ka dal. We have proven ourselves within a year.”