(Here is a 360 degree view of the celebrations taking place outside the BJP office in Lucknow)
And then, the results started trickling in. As the spread and margin of the BJP's spectacular victory in the Uttar Pradesh elections started sinking in, the crowds started swelling, getting louder and colourful. The BJP needed 202 seats to come to power in the 403-seat assembly. It ended up with a landslide score of 312. But as the trend became clearer towards noon, people brought in the sweets, flowers and colours. It was Holi two days in advance -- workers danced to victory slogans, hugged each other and sprayed each other with colours as the party's gains seemed irreversible.
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Less than 3 km away, outside the Samajwadi Party office, party workers had removed Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi's cut-outs from outside the party office well before the counting started. Later Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav insisted the alliance would survive the crash landing. For a long time, small groups of party workers who had gathered spoke with hope how the trends could change. Others trooped to the temple down the road.
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By the evening, the BJP had won 312 seats and a 39 per cent vote, just three percentage points less than 2014 general elections' 42 per cent vote share when the party had netted 71 of the state's 80 Lok Sabha seats.
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But if the BJP's one-step-at-a-time approach ensured it did not trip during either the campaign, or the celebrations, the AAP seemed to trip in the all guns blazing style. It repeated the BJP's mistake in Bihar, possibly encouraged by the exit polls that forecast it was within striking distance in Punjab.
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