New Delhi: This was a result Congress party managers never, ever dreamed of.
They were aware of an anti-incumbency current running among the aam aadmi, but they never foresaw that a rookie like the Aam Aadmi Party, with a broom as its election symbol, sweep off the Congress from its pedestal after its uninterrupted rule for 15 long years.
The symbolic use of hundreds of brooms wielded by a few thousand AAP supporters outside their office in central Delhi, and flashed on television throughout the day, sent out alarm bells ringing in the corridor of Akbar Road.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi had to come out before the media and acknowledge that people were angry about pricerise.
Rahul Gandhi promised to give more space to the common man in the Congress party "in an aggressive manner, if not better" - a lesson well learnt after licking the wounds of an electoral battle.
Sheila Dikshit, who won thrice from her constituency with thumping margins, in the last 15 years, was defeated by AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal by a huge margin of 22,000 votes.
The final tally in Delhi: BJP 31, Aam Aadmi Party 28, Congress 8, JD(U) 1, Akali Dal 1, Independent 1.
As of now, there is no sign of the BJP coming up with a government enjoying majority support, nor is the AAP willing to take or offer support in any form to any party, for that matter.
The Lt Governor Najeeb Jung will formally ask the single largest party BJP to form a government, but if the BJP fails to prove its majority, and there are no fresh bids from AAP, he may recommend Central rule.
So, Delhi stares at another assembly election, may be sooner, rather than later.
In neighbouring Rajasthan, the Maharani Vasundhara Raje turned the tables of chief minister Ashok Gehlot to storm back to power after a gap of five years.
The final tally: BJP 162, Congress 21, National People's Party (of Kirorilal Meena) 4, BSP 3, National Unionist Zamindara Party 2, Independents 7.
Most of the ministers in Ashok Gehlot's government were defeated.
In Madhya Pradesh, chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan scored a hattrick, just like his neighbour Narendra Modi who had scored a hattrick in Gujarat last November. The Congress, wracked by groupism and infighting, had to bite the dust again.
The final tally: BJP 165, Congress 58, BSP 4, Independents 3.
Chhattisgarh saw a see-saw battle throughout Sunday.
As counting and re-counting progressed, the Congress left behind BJP, only to be left behind in the final lap.
The Congress tried its best to garner sympathy wave after the massacre of its leaders by Maoists, but failed by a whisker.
Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh thus got a hattrick by default.
The final tally: BJP 49, Congress 39, BSP 1, Independent 1.
And with this, the curtain fell on what was being billed as a semifinal.
The final, of course, will be held in March to May next year for the Lok Sabha.
The final will be played on a wider canvas, with the likes of Mamata, Mayawati, Jayalalithaa, Mulayam, Jaganmohan Reddy, Sharad Pawar entering the sweepstakes in a NaMo vs RaGa encounter.
