HARYANA: SRINAGAR: The BJP came back from behind to stop Congress’s celebrations on its tracks as leads show the party all set to come back to power for a historic third term, defying exit polls predictions. On the other hand, with the Congress-National Conference alliance headed for certain victory in Jammu and Kashmir, NC supremo Farooq Abdullah tapped his son, Omar Abdullah, as the next Chief Minister.
There are 90 Assembly seats up for grabs in Haryana, making 46 the magic number. After a brisk start that saw it briefly cross the halfway mark, the Congress won seven seats and is leading in 29 seats. On the other hand, the BJP clinched three seats and is leading in 45 seats.
No party has won a third consecutive term in Haryana since its inception in 1966. Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), once a powerhouse in Haryana, is ahead in two seats, while the Dushyant Chautala-led Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), which aligned with the BJP in 2019, is yet to open its account.
In Jammu and Kashmir, where elections to the 90-member Assembly were held for the first time in a decade, the Congress-NC combine crossed the halfway mark with six wins and leads in 40 seats, while the BJP secured eight seats and is up in 21 seats. Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) bagged one seat and is ahead in three. Independents are leading in eight seats.
The possibility of a hung assembly in the Union Territory has opposition parties apprehensive that the five Lieutenant Governor-nominated MLAs could play a decisive role in government formation.
Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana Assembly elections: 10 points
In Haryana, where exit polls predicted a clean sweep for the Congress, the party’s missteps like banking heavily on Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the sidelining of Dalit leader Kumari Selja may have cost it the election.
The consolidation of non-Jat votes by the BJP hurt the Congress further. The grand old party focused its efforts on wooing the Jat community and neglected the politically consequential Ahirwal belt, which comprises urban and industrial centres Gurugram, Faridabad, Rewari and Mahendragarh.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is leading in Ladwa, while Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda secured an unassailable lead of 56,381 votes in Garhi Sampla-Kiloi. Meanwhile, BJP leader Anil Vij and JJP chief Dushyant Chautala are trailing in Ambala Cantt and Uchana Kalan, respectively.
Congress candidate and wrestler Vinesh Phogat won in Julana on her poll debut. The Olympian secured 64,548 votes and beat her nearest rival, BJP’s Yogesh Kumar, by 6,553 votes. Phogat was nominated by the Congress after her heartbreak at the Paris Olympics.
Congress opened its account in Haryana with a victory in Nuh, where its candidate Aftab Ahmed secured 91,833 votes to defeat his nearest rival, Tahir Hussain of the INLD, by a handsome margin of 46,963 votes.
Staring at defeat in Haryana, the Congress lodged a complaint with the Election Commission alleging “inordinate and unacceptable delay in updating trends” on its website. “Like the Lok Sabha elections, in Haryana we are again witnessing slowing down of uploading up-to-date trends on the ECI website. Is the BJP trying to build pressure on the administration by sharing outdated and misleading trends?” tweeted Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
In Jammu and Kashmir, where a photo finish was predicted by most exit polls, the National Conference staged a sensational comeback. The Farooq Abdullah-led party won seven seats and is leading in 34, while ally Congress is ahead in six seats.
NC leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who contested from Ganderbal and Budgam, is leading in both constituencies. BJP’s state unit chief Ravinder Raina is trailing in Nowshera, while NC’s Sajad Gani Lone is trailing from Kupwara.
BJP’s Darshan Kumar won the Basohli seat with 31,874 votes, defeating his nearest rival, Congress candidate and former Jammu and Kashmir minister Chaudhary Lal Singh by 16,034 votes. NC candidate Nazir Ahmed Khan won by a margin of 1,132 votes in Gurez.
With the NC-Congress a done deal in Jammu and Kashmir, celebrations erupted at the Congress office in Srinagar. Workers distributed sweets and raised slogans of ‘Long live Congress party’.
