NEW DELHI: Exit polls on Sunday hinted at India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, returning to power in Haryana after a decade. The Congress, in coalition with National Conference (NC) also seems to be ahead of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), with the first assembly elections of the region in ten years being completed.
Haryana Exit Polls Favor Congress:
Haryana Exit Polls: Congress Favor Haryana is a 90-seat assembly and polls were held on Saturday. Several exit polls conducted by agencies indicate a strong performance by the Congress. A party or alliance needs 46 seats to form the government in the 90-seat Haryana Assembly. P Marq at Republic TV says that between 55 and 62 seats the Congress would result; meanwhile, the BJP is likely to take up between 18 and 24. Times Now showed almost the same results, as it said that for Congress, it could take 50 to 64 and for BJP, 22 to 32, while other parties mostly have a small number of seats.
Election Results:Jammu & Kashmir Close Contest:
In J&K, where polling concluded on Tuesday, the NC-Congress alliance is also forecasted to have an edge over the BJP. Republic TV – P Marq projects the NC-Congress alliance winning between 40 and 48 seats out of the 90-seat assembly, which is more than enough to form a government. On the other hand, the BJP is expected to win between 27 and 32 seats. It is likely to win 6 to 12 seats for PDP, and other parties may get between 6 and 11 seats.
In the exit polls, the regions within J&K are a better deal for a deeper insight. The BJP is projected to be leading within the Jammu region by winning between 27 and 32 seats in 43, while the NC-Congress may get between 11 and 15 seats. In the Kashmir valley, NC-Congress is likely to have an upper hand win as many as between 29 and 33 of the 47. BJP could end with a paltry 0-1 seat from this region, while PDP may bag between 6-10 seats.
As per the exit polls, Omar Abdullah and political leaders of Jammu and Kashmir are playing down the exit polls’ results that indicate a rout for the NC-Congress.
Despite such optimistic estimates, NC leader and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah dismissed the exit polls, recalling the inaccuracy of polls during the recent general elections. Only the official results matter, he said, to be announced on October 8. Abdullah’s skepticism chimes with the past when many such exit polls in India have been unbelievably problematic because of the sheer diversity of the electorate.
Congress Gain in Haryana and Beyond:
Exit polls in Haryana showed the Congress could bring an end to a decade of BJP rule in the north Indian state. Analysts are keeping a close eye on how this upset may have further reordered the political equation, especially with Maharashtra and Jharkhand slated for provincial elections in the coming months.
The votes for the two regions will be counted on Tuesday, October 8, and the results are expected to be announced the same day.
These exit polls are the first state-level elections in J&K since Narendra Modi’s government stripped it of its special semi-autonomous status in 2019. The region has witnessed tremendous political and social upheaval since then, and these elections were more than crucial to gauge the political feeling in the region.
The last outcome of the Haryana and J&K election may thus herald a political change, which is on its way soon in both these areas.