The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is all set to form the government in Haryana for the third straight term with leads in 49 seats. Despite anti-incumbency, the BJP is poised to halt a Congress comeback in the state after a decade, the latest Election Commission of India (ECI) trends show.
The latest trends show the Congress ahead in 36 seats, independent candidates in three and the INLD in two seats. Prominent candidates including Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Independent candidate Savitri Jindal, all claimed a win. On the other hand, INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala lost and JJP candidate Dushyant Chautala was trailing, according to trends at 4:15 pm.
Haryana assembly speaker, BJP leader Gian Chand Gupta, Haryana Lokhit Party leader Gopal Kanda and BJP leader OP Dhankar were among other losers, while Congress’ Vinesh Phogat struck gold on her political debut winning the Julana seat over BJP’s Yogesh Kumar by a margin of 6,015 votes.
Notably, the Aam Aadmi Party has failed to register a single seat. The counting of votes began at 8 am amid tight security measures. Although, several exit polls had predicted a landslide win for the Congress, the BJP consolidated as the counting progressed.
Earlier, addressing The Conclave 2024 by Pratidin Media Network, Congress leader and AICC general secretary Sachin Pilot had exuded confidence in the party’s win in Haryana. Citing the anti-incumbency in the state and the Congress’ on-ground work, Pilot quoted a landslide victory with two-third margin.
Elsewhere in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress-National Conference alliance crossed the halfway mark securing 49 out of the 90 seats and is set to form the government. 42 of these seats belong to the National Congress, with six going to the Congress and one to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – CPI (M).
National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah announced earlier, “Omar Abdullah Banega J&K Chief Minister”, following the party’s strong showing in the polls.
The elections were held for the 90 constituencies in three phases — September 18, September 25, and October 1 — after 10 years. This was also the first elections witnessed in the valley since the abrogation of Article 370 in August, 2019, diving the former state into Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the voter turnout recorded was 63.88 per cent. Amid tight security arrangements, counting of votes began at 8 am today.