Cellphones off, candidates return to life as usual

After 17 days on the campaign trail, the Congress candidate from East Delhi Sheila Dikshit, sunburnt, down with laryngitis and her feet hurting, spent her first day at home.

But she was not alone. Surrounded by a large number of her supporters, some of whom had come to her Nizamuddin East residence just out of a newly developed habit she said, that she had lost some weight. How much ? "Oh!About two kilograms," she added.

After days of 18-hour-long campaigning, Dikshit found staying at home a welcome change. "But my people came to me," she insisted. And the news that the Election Commission (EC) had revised the voting percentage figures lifted her spirits.

"I wassure that the voting had been more than the 40 per cent figures. But then who knows better than the EC. This morning when they revised their figures I knew the voters had turned up to vote for change. I do not want to speak out of turn but things do look brighter for me with a high percentage of voting," Dikshit said.

Most politicians seemed to thrive on the chaos and tension of election campaigning. The Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Chandni Chowk Vijay Goel does not like this lull after the storm. "Suddenly there is nothing there to do. In fact, I do not really like this calmness."

After spending the earlier part of the day sleeping, he spent the rest with his two children. "I could not spend any time with them for the last so many days."

His children’s homework is the top priority for BJP candidate from Karol Bagh Surinder Pal Ratawal. This was his way of relaxing after taking on the sitting MP from Congress Meira Kumar. He had to embark on extensive campaigning, which included frequentpadyatras, to make his presence felt in the constituency. "It doesn’t matter if the polling is over. Life goes on," Ratawal said.

The only candidate for whom the day did not bring any cheer was the Congress candidate from South Delhi Ajay Maken. Suffering from an upset stomach, he was ill for most of the day.

Most candidates went off air today, with their cellphones remaining switched off, perhaps, for the first time in the last one month, while till yesterday, the candidates eagerly gave opinions about their rivals to anyone who cared to listen.

Those who were suddenly incommunicado today were Congress candidate from Karol Bagh Meira Kumar, BJP candidate from South Delhi Sushma Swaraj, Congress candidate from Outer Delhi Deep Chand Sharma and BJP candidate from New Delhi Jagmohan.