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Exit polls: Congress expected to return to power in Haryana
A party or an alliance needs 46 seats to form the government
The Congress was expected to return to power in Haryana after 10 years, exit polls suggested hours after the single-phase polling across 90 seats in the state ended on Saturday. The votes will be counted on October 8.
A party or an alliance needs 46 seats to form the government. Republic TV - P Marq said Congress was expected to get 55-62 seats, the BJP 18-24 and others 2-5 seats. Times Now gave the Congress 50-64 seats, the BJP 22-32, and others 2-8.
Exit polls this summer showed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was set to match or better its 2019 Lok Sabha tally of 303 in the 543-member Lok Sabha. But the Congress-led Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) posted unexpectedly strong results winning 233 seats. It restricted the BJP to 240, below the majority mark of 272.
In Haryana, the ruling BJP and the Congress won five seats each in the national polls. The grievances of the Agniveers and farmers were seen as the key factors behind Congress’s better performance.
Farmer distress, the Agniveer military recruitment scheme, which sparked protests over reduced tenure and fewer post-service benefits, and the protests of wrestlers against BJP leader and ex-Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh over sexual harassment allegations were among the key assembly poll issues. Wrestler Vinesh Phogat, who became the face of the protests, contested as a Congress candidate.
The assembly elections were a direct contest between the BJP and the Congress even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) were also in the fray.
The BJP hoped to overcome anti-incumbency and retain power for the third time. The Congress, which rules only neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana on its own, was expected to carry forward the momentum of the Lok Sabha polls and form a government in Haryana after 10 years.
The Congress won 31 seats of the 90 in Haryana in 2019. The BJP bagged 40, falling short of the majority mark of 46. It formed the government with the help of JJP, which won 10 seats. The alliance collapsed earlier this year when the BJP snapped its ties with the JJP and replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as the chief minister.
The JJP contested the 2024 assembly elections in an alliance with Parliament member Chandrasekhar Azad-led Azad Samaj Party. The Congress and the AAP, which are part of the INDIA bloc, contested the elections separately after they could not agree on a seat-sharing arrangement. The INLD and BSP fought the elections together.
