On ‘X’, Modi claimed “people of India” voted for NDA as if people of India do not have people who have never voted for Narendra Modi. "First phase, great response! Thank you to all those who have voted today. Getting EXCELLENT feedback from today's voting. It's clear that people across India are voting for NDA in record numbers."

Modi is a politician and words come cheap for politicians. Modi wants a third term, craves it like a child chocolate. He is smelling it and millions are holding their breath while millions others are holding on to their noses. Two sets of people – one set abhors Modi, the other set admires Modi.

But remember Modi has also been termed ‘Divider-in-Chief’ and in recent days, ‘Dictator’. That being said, there is an inevitability to a third Modi term. Hindi has the lovely saying “Teen Tigada Kaam Bigada’ but hordes of Indians everywhere are in Modi’s hypnotic swirl, unless it is a mirage and what we’re seeing are the final days of a dream going sour.

Only, don’t let it be a case of sour grapes. The melancholy in captive media TV studios witnessed at the conclusion of voting in the first phase of polling gave hope. But, then, whoever thought Modi would butt in with “great response”? Does Modi have something up his sleeves, the chances are high he might, up not one, but both sleeves?

Truth is, voters on Friday weren’t seen in “record numbers”. Only Prime Minister Narendra Modi saw the “record numbers”. Media did not report “record numbers”, photographers did not click “record numbers”; videographers did not shoot “record numbers”. The winding queues of the burqa-clad weren't there to shock and awe.

Even the Modi-influenced media talking heads questioned the “udaaseenta” in the air, the voter apathy. Analysts split hair and scratched stubble. Was voter apathy directed at the BJP and Modi or was it against the Opposition? The answers eluded them, one and all. "What's happening?" asked the 'Aar-Paar' anchor, shouting out the question.

What was happening, indeed? At the end of the day, in the last but one hour left, suddenly, polling spiked in key constituencies in certain battleground states, like Tamil Nadu, for instance? Tamil Nadu is one of the two south states on which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set his poll-jaundiced eyes on.

It is where Modi’s blue-eyed boy K Annamalai expects to beard DMK head and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin in his den. Tall talk, and idli and dosai — Prime Minister Narendra Modi knows that “400 paar” will remain a pipedream without a clutch of seats from the south states.

The “gaumutra states” can only go so far and no farther as making a clean sweep of the north is not a Modi guarantee as can be gauged from the polling in Rajasthan yesterday. What’s worrying, however, is people didn’t appear bothered whether Modi won a third term or did not. Modi wants to equal Jawaharlal Nehru’s record of three terms.

What is also apparent is that the opposition grouping, INDI-Alliance, is hanging on for dear life. The voter-indifference on display throughout the day on Friday does not portend good for Modi. Unless the Prime Minister has something extra up his sleeves? Saturday morning Modi flew to Nanded in Maharashtra and proclaimed victory for the BJP-led NDA. The Election Commission should seriously appraise its role when it can see with eyes wide open that Modi is running berserk with electoral pronouncements.

There has never been such a Prime Minister. By evening Friday “Modi Toh Gayo” was trending on ‘X’. Really, will Prime Minister Narendra Modi get a third term? The answer is in the undercurrent of odd vibes. It is not about the majority Meitei and minority Kuki-Zo stepping out to vote. It is about the Electronic Voting Machine, which, the Supreme Court says is above reproachable. India is stuck with the EVM and, maybe, with the Modi regime because of the EVM. How many phases are left is how many chances are left to rid India of Modi Raj. Modi's eclipse is in the hands of the powerful political families of the INDI-Alliance, the 'parivars' whom Modi dreads. (IPA Service)