Counting in the world’s largest elections started at 8 am today. People are eagerly waiting for the counting to end to know whether the exit poll predictions will hold ground and Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will return for a third term. At the same time, the Opposition’s INDIA bloc, representing various regional and opposition parties, has rubbished the exit poll predictions that it won’t win many seats and is proving to be a strong opponent for NDA. Expectedly, many have taken to social media to share their reactions to the counting. However, amid those, some started spamming various social media platforms with “RCB, ” – an abbreviation for IPL team Royal Challengers Bengaluru – which has baffled people. It has also prompted them to come up with multiple theories.
A dig at the opposition
Some X users concluded that the RCB reference is a dig at the opposition. They suggested that, like the RCB, the opposition played really well in the beginning (counting) but is now trailing. They equated this change in a scene with RCB constantly losing at the end moment and never lifting an IPL trophy.
Candidate in RCB jersey
A few social media users suggested that RCB is trending because some people spotted a candidate wearing an RCB jersey on the Election Commission (EC) website.
“RCB fans are more loyal than UP voters”
In a surprising twist, the 80-member state seat Uttar Pradesh is seeing a less-than-stellar performance of BJP. Most exit polls predicted that the BJP would have a massive win in this state, considered as the road to power at the centre. However, after the counting of votes began, the INDIA bloc proved to be a strong opponent of the BJP in the state. Hence, many started posting that “RCB fans”, who keep following the same team despite its failure, are “more loyal” than the UP voters.
Several people are also spamming the comments section of the official channels of various news organisations covering election results. They are simply writing “RCB” in the live chat section.
Why do you think “RCB” is trending on social media amid election results?
Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.
