New Delhi: Prime time Monday mostly anticipated the results of the Delhi elections Tuesday morning. Some introduced panel members for Tuesday’s electoral analysis, others branded their own election coverage and TV anchors reminded their viewers of the “big result”.
For variety, some channels discussed Delhi’s Gargi College festival where miscreants allegedly harassed female students. Others continued to harp on the “Shaheen Bagh model”.
With opposition parties speculating that EVMs had been tampered with in the Delhi election, ABP News’ anchor Sumit Awasthi innocently asked, “If AAP has done the work, then why is it scared of the EVM?”
“AAP has accused the EC, but from what I know, AAP is an educated party. If you had doubts on the EC, then you shouldn’t have fought for the election,” observed Awasthi with somewhat convoluted logic.
During Aaj Tak’s ‘Halla Bol’, anchor Anjana Om Kashyap stated that if the exit poll predictions held, then “Shaheen Bagh ka shor nahi chala, vikas ka zor chala,” (Shaheen Bagh’s noise didn’t work, development’s push did). For some reason, Kashyap felt the need to warn Sudhanshu Trivedi, BJP spokesperson, “The public is watching everything”.
To which Trivedi, in true spokesperson style, said, “I won’t speak about the exit polls because we will know the results in a few hours”. Instead, he chose to target Waris Pathan, AIMIM spokesperson. Trivedi asked bullishly, “You are saying `kagaz nahi dikhayenge’. But how did you vote without showing your papers?”
Rajdeep Sardesai, India Today’s anchor brought the viewers some “breaking news”. Sardesai said, “BJP has issued a three-line whip to MPs to be present in Rajya Sabha. The last time this happened, it led to the CAA during the winter session of the Parliament.”
“No information has been made available so far. It remains to be seen whether this is headline management”, he added.
Times Now anchor Madhavdas Gopalakrishnan also moderated a discussion on the events at Gargi College. He said, “Don’t those who are in power have the responsibility to be absolutely correct and responsible?”
To which Preeti S. Menon, AAP spokesperson said, “We need to hold the administration and the laxity of the police accountable”.
“…If 35 drunk men were moving around Delhi and are not seen by anybody, it is difficult to believe that the Delhi Police was completely unaware”, she added in disbelief.
Republic continued to chant its mantra on apparent “Shaheen Bagh exploitation”. Anchor Arnab Goswami said, “We need to take a closer look at the Shaheen Bagh model. The repeated political exploitation of children is unacceptable… the model that calls for the blockade of roads and holds our city ransom is unacceptable”.
Holding up his hands, Goswami added, “Ladies and gentlemen, we want sanity and reason back in this country”. First on Republic, please.
Shifting his position, Goswami added, “My position is that the Delhi election was fought on local issues, BJP made a mistake electorally by making it a Shaheen Bagh issue”.
