BJP wins again in Haryana Assembly poll, J-K votes for NC-Cong alliance

PTI Chandigarh/Srinagar: The BJP on Tuesday clinched a stunning hat-trick win in Haryana overcoming anti-incumbency and dashing Congress' hopes of a comeback while the National Conference-Congress combine pulled off a spectacular victory in maiden elections in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. The BJP's decisive victory in the Haryana Assembly elections came as a big boost for the saffron party ahead of the crucial polls in Maharashtra, where along with its two allies it is bracing for a tough battle, and also in Jharkhand and Delhi. The BJP as well as the NCCongress alliance got a comfortable majority in Haryana and J and K respectively where the Assemblies had an identical strength of 90. While Saini, the 54-yearold OBC leader who was made CM just six months ago to replace Manohar Lal Khattar in an unexpected appointment, is likely to retain his post, NC President Farooq Abdullah announced that his son and party leader Omar Abdullah will be the chief minister, a post he had held between 2009 and 2014.

This was the first major direct contest between the BJP and Congress after the Lok Sabha verdict in June. It saw the ruling party emerge triumphant with its largest tally of 48 seats, up from 41 in 2019. Despite the good showing of the BJP in Haryana, eight out of 10 ministers were defeated. Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta also lost. As the vote count in Haryana witnessed some close contests, the Congress, which was hoping to consolidate its gains from the Lok Sabha verdict by targeting the incumbent government on farmers' plight and Agnipath recruitment scheme for non-commissioned posts in the Armed Forces, notched 36 seats, five more than it got last time. It was also leading in one. Significantly, the vote share of the BJP and Congress was almost same--39.94 per cent and 39.04 per cent respectively. Among the Congress's high high profile winners was Vinesh Phogat, the wrestler- turned-politician who broke a million hearts when she lost out on her Olympic medals. She won the Julana seat by 6,015 votes.

Jannayak Janta Party, which had emerged as the kingmaker last assembly polls, was decimated this time round. The AAP also came as a cropper. The alliance of the NC and Congress, who are constituents of the opposition grouping INDIA bloc and are set to form the government in J and K, won 48 of the 90 seats at stake. The NC, which scored big in the elections being held for the first time since 2019 when J an K was also bifurcated into union territories, bagged 42 of the 51 seats it contested while its ‘junior partner' Congress got six of the 32 it fought.

Omar Abdullah told PTI videos that he expects Prime Minister Modi to do the "honourable thing" by restoring the statehood to J and K. The BJP with 29 seats emerged as the second largest party improving its all-time high tally of 25 in 2014 elections. It had fielded 62 candidates with a major focus on its strong bastion of Jammu region. Separatist candidates, including those from Engineer Rashid-led Awami Ittehad Party and Jamaat-e- Islami, failed to make any impact in the polls.