On big election results day, a recap of 5 quirky poll moments

Election results today: The results of the Assembly elections for five states will be declared today.

Crucial Assembly elections to Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur has concluded and the results will be declared today.

690 constituencies have voted, with the maximum in UP (403 seats) followed by Punjab (117), Uttarakhand (70), Manipur (60) and Goa (40). Barring Punjab which is ruled by the Congress, the BJP is in power in the rest of the four states.

The run up to the Assembly elections saw scores of rallies and speeches. Parties and leaders ripped into each other at every opportunity trying to inch past one another in the key polls.

Many of these speeches and unique campaigns have caught our attention. As the elections draw to a close, let’s recap some speeches, memes and rallies that made headlines.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav were all smiles as they waved at each other when their roadshows passed by each other in a chance encounter last month. The two leaders, competitors in polls, folded hands at each other with a 'namaste' and waved amid roaring applause from hundreds of followers gathered at the rallies.

pic.twitter.com/dutvvEkz5W

— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) February 3, 2022

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal's campaign for Uttar Pradesh assembly elections took a Bollywood turn last month when at a rally in Lucknow, he equated himself with the dacoit Gabbar Singh from the 1975's classic 'Sholay'. "When kids play corrupt, mothers advise them to sleep off or Kejriwal will arrive,” the Delhi chief minister said amid roaring laughter.

#WATCH | ...Kejriwal is a terrorist who scares the corrupt...There is a dialogue from Sholay movie..."Jab baccha bhrashtachar karta hai toh maa kehti hai soja beta varna Kejriwal aajayega...": AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal in Lucknow, UP pic.twitter.com/tb0ydWMplh

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) February 21, 2022

The Aam Aadmi Party hit out at the Congress government in Punjab with a Shark Tank reference ahead of the Punjab elections on February 20. Featuring ‘shark’ Ashneer Grover and a superimposed face of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on a contestant, the video shows Grover shouting in Hindi, “Issey wahiyat product maine zindagi me na dekha hai, na dekhna chahta hoon. Mereko bhagwan uthaale, itna ganda product hai ye. Iske baad main kuch nahi dekhna chahta life mein (I have never seen a more horrible product in my entire life and I don’t want to see again. Let God take my life - it is such a horrible product. I don’t want to see anything else in my life again).”

Punjab Voters describing 5 years of Congress rule #SharkTankAAPpic.twitter.com/w4YawcEkcC

— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) February 13, 2022

Armed with a pair of binoculars, a Samajwadi Party leader took up the task to ensure there is no mismanagement in the EVM strong room in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut ahead of the counting of votes tomorrow. Yogesh Verma, the SP candidate from Hastinapur assembly seat, is seen in videos shared by news agency ANI monitoring EVMs from his jeep with binoculars. Verma says party chief Akhilesh Yadav has ordered a close watch on EVMs and the ones keeping a watch will work in three 8-hour shifts. After his binocular watch, Verma shifted closer to the strong room on Tuesday and kept an eye on the EVM.

#WATCH | Samajwadi Party candidate from Hastinapur constituency in Meerut district, Yogesh Verma keeps an eye on EVM strong room with binoculars to prevent mishandling pic.twitter.com/0eB8FO4vQO

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) March 8, 2022

Running late for filing election nomination papers for the assembly polls, Uttar Pradesh Sports Minister Upendra Tiwari started to sprint. Wearing a saffron safa with several marigold garlands around his neck, Tiwari walked briskly, breaking into a jog sometimes, at the collectorate office in Ballia last month.

#WATCH | UP Sports Minister Upendra Tiwari sprinted to Collectorate Office in Ballia y'day as he was running late to file his nomination. Y'day nominations were scheduled to be filed by 3 pm & the minister was running late, nomination process still ongoing#UttarPradeshElectionspic.twitter.com/99HSIPHwoA

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) February 5, 2022

Several other exchange of jibes also made headlines, notably exchanges between Akhilesh Yadav and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

One such instance was Yadav saying that people have subdued the “garmi” (haughtiness) of Yogi in the first two phases of the UP assembly elections. "Now after the third phase, the people of Bundelkhand will make him 'thanda' (cool down)," Yadav had said.