Long wait for election outcome

BHUBANESWAR: Polling got over for both Lok Sabha and assembly elections in Odisha on Thursday but candidates, and even voters, will have to wait till May 16 for the results.
"It will be a difficult one month as the uncertainty will haunt," said Bijay Mohanty, a popular film actor who has been contesting from the Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat as Congress candidate.Eleven LS seats including Bhubaneswar and 77 assembly seats in the state went to poll on Thursday while the rest 10 LS and 70 assembly seats in Odisha had voted earlier on April 10.
"I have fallen sick in the heat. The recovery will take some days. During the past month, I was so busy campaigning that I could not give time to my family. I will do that now," Mohanty said.
Health minister Damodar Rout, who was elected MLA six times, is also anxious. "Being anxious is natural. Even the voter is anxious to know about the outcome. The same, however, would not affect me in any way in leading my life and performing my duty," he said.
Many senior politicians said they have got used to such wait. "Even in previous elections, there were more or less similar waiting period. We have got used to it," said Congress spokesperson Narasingh Mishra who fought from Balangir assembly seat where polling was on April 10.
"I am back to my routine life. As a lawyer, I fight my cases with all sincerity without bothering about the verdict. Similarly, as a contestant I have fought sincerely. I don't think about the results. That reduces my anxiety," Mishra said.
In 2009, Odisha went to polls on April 16 and 13 while the counting took place on May 16, giving a waiting period of around three to four weeks. This time, the wait is four to five weeks.
Leaders of national parties will use the time to campaign for their party candidates elsewhere. "I am traveling to Delhi tonight. In consultations with my party colleagues, I will campaign wherever I am needed," said BJP state president KV Singhdeo, who has contested from Patnagarh Vidhan Sabha seat.
Dhanada Mishra, an academician who fought the LS polls from Berhampur as Aam Aadmi Party candidate, said he along with many other party colleagues would go to Varanasi to campaign for party chief Arvind Kejriwal.
According to psychologists, whether the candidates agree or not, they will continue to have moments of anxiety. "Apart from one's win and loss, the contestants are also bothered about performance of their parties. The long period of uncertainty is frustrating because everyday they would pass through possibilities," said Namita Mohanty, a psychology teacher at Utkal University.
Amid the wait for the outcome, the government would only perform routine administrative work till the new government is formed, a senior government officer said.