India's general election has finally come to an end. The marathon six-week vote involved nationwide campaigns by different parties, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP and Rahul Gandhi's Congress Party.

Narendra Modi is very active in public and on social media. He has two Twitter accounts with around 50 million followers and used them quite well in the recent general election. And there was a TV channel dedicated to his campaign, called NaMo TV.

National security, that's one thing Modi and the BJP focused on during their campaign. The conflict between India and Pakistan over the disputed Kashmir region and the Indian army's role took center stage. 

Hoping BJP's strong record on national security could deliver them a victory in the Indian elections, Modi criticized the Congress Party for ignoring demands of defense forces. He also slammed the opposition for failing to run anti-satellite missile tests when they were in power, "to make India strong in the 21st century and for the safety of our country, the decision to test an anti-satellite missile should have been taken far earlier."

But what Gandhi and his party want are quite different. He believed that for India to grow there need to be a firm partnership between business, between the economic sectors of this country and between the poor. 

He said, “the best party and the best ideology to do this is the Congress party.” Gandhi blamed Modi for increased poverty and unemployment. In a campaign rally in Uttar Pradesh, he criticized Modi's economic policies, saying under his administration, the unemployment rate reached its highest in 45 years.

The Prime Minister, however, said the Congress Party was fooling people to collect votes. Modi even dragged Rahul Gandhi's family into the race, saying Gandhi's father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi's life ended as a "corrupt number 1". 

Rahul condemned Modi for making the comment, saying it's inappropriate to make such a statement about a dead predecessor, who was assassinated by terrorists 28 years ago.

Another argument between BJP and the Congress Party could be the BJP candidate from a constituency, Pragya Singh Thakur. She has been charged by Indian law enforcement with a bomb blast that killed six people in 2008. Modi defended it saying that she was a victim of a witch-hunt by the then Congress government.

Now, as the country awaits the final results, both sides should prepare to face different challenges, because the winner will not only have to deliver his promises but also deal with the issues he has blamed the other party for.

(Cover image: BJP supporters celebrate after learning the initial election results outside the party headquarters in New Delhi, India, May 23, 2019. /VCG Photo)