Ganesh Kendale
NEW DELHI: Exit polls on Saturday predicted that the Congress will be sweeping back into power in Haryana after a gap of 10 years, while its alliance with the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir seems to be in a strong position and may form the next government, which last held assembly elections 10 years ago.
Congress to sweep Haryana: Pollsters
Exit polls released on Saturday predicted a Congress sweep in Haryana with the party winning around 55 seats, the BJP 27 seats, INLD 2 seats, JJP 1 seat and others around 5 seats.
In his first reaction to the exit poll results, senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said: “I feel that we will win 65 plus-minus seats. Congress will form the government with a thumping majority.”
Haryana CM and BJP leader Nayab Singh Saini said he was “confident that the BJP would form the government again with a complete majority on October 8”.
“BJP will form the government with full majority. We are confident. Work has been done for every section of society in the last 10 years, and the state has been freed from regionalism and dynastic politics,” said Saini on the exit poll predictions.
The 90 seats of Haryana went to the polls in a single phase on October 5. The majority mark is 46 seats.
The exit polls for the Haryana assembly elections were released shortly after voting concluded around 6pm.
In the 2019 assembly elections, the BJP had won 40 of the 90 seats, forming a coalition government with the JJP, which won 10 seats. However, JJP later broke out of the coalition and BJP relied on independent MLAs to sustain the government. The Congress had secured 31 seats.
Congress-NC have the edge in J&K: Exit polls
Exit polls for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly election have predicted that the Congress-National Conference alliance may win around 43 seats, 3 short of the majority, while the BJP may win 27 seats, PDP 7 and others 13.
With a hung assembly likely, former deputy chief minister of J&K Kavinder Gupta hinted that the BJP is already holding talks with “like-minded” parties.
“It is only in the exit polls that Congress-NC has got these seats, but BJP will emerge as the biggest party once the correct results are out. We are confident of getting more than 35 seats in Jammu province and the remaining from Kashmir. BJP will be in a better condition in Kashmir … Talks are going on with like-minded parties,” Gupta said.
National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah also dismissed the exit poll predictions.
In a post on X, Abdullah said, “I’m amazed channels are bothering with exit polls, especially after the fiasco of the recent general elections. I’m ignoring all the noise on channels, social media, WhatsApp Etc because the only numbers that matter will be revealed on the 8th of Oct. The rest is just time pass.”
The Election Commission of India said that an overall 63.88% voter turnout was recorded in the assembly elections in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, which was held in three phases: September 18, September 25 and October 1.
The counting of votes for Haryana and J&K will take place on October 8.
