Several exit polls on Saturday predicted a clear majority for the Congress in Haryana and gave an advantage to its alliance with the National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, with the regional partner expected to emerge as the single largest party.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the C-Voter-India Today survey placed the National Conference-Congress alliance at 40 to 48 seats, with the BJP at 27 to 32 in the 90-member assembly. Elections were conducted in Jammu and Kashmir for the first time in a decade following the state’s bifurcation into two union territories in 2019.
For Haryana, the India Today-C Voter predicted that the Congress would take 50 to 58 seats, with the BJP receiving 20 to 28.
Dainik Bhaskar exit poll forecasted the Congress securing 44 to 54 seats, while the BJP is projected to win 15 to 29 seats in the 90-member Haryana Assembly. While for Jammu and Kashmir, it estimated the NC-Congress alliance at 35 to 40 seats and the BJP at 20 to 25.
Axis My India projected NC-Congress to bag between 35 and 45 seats and the BJP at 24 to 34 in Jammu and Kashmir. In Haryana, the Axis My India exit poll predicted Congress securing 53-65 seats, while BJP is predicted to bag 18-28 seats, INLD and BSP alliance is predicted to bag 1-5 seats.
The Red Mike-Datansh exit poll in Haryana gave the Congress 50 to 55 seats, while Dhruv Research projected 50 to 64 seats for the Congress and 22 to 32 for the BJP.
The Peoples’ Pulse exit poll for Haryana estimated the Congress at 49 to 60 seats and the BJP at 20 to 32. In Jammu and Kashmir, Peoples’ Pulse saw the NC-Congress alliance getting 46-50 seats as against the BJP’s 23-27, while Republic-Gulistan put the NC-Congress tally at 31-36 as against the BJP’s 28-30.
The results of the assembly elections will be announced on October 8.
According to the seat-sharing arrangement between the Congress and the National Conference (NC), the Congress contested 32 seats while the NC fielded candidates in 51 constituencies. The two parties engaged in friendly contests in five seats and allocated one seat each for CPI(M) candidate M Y Tarigami and National Panthers Party-India’s Harsh Dev Singh.
The overall voter turnout in Jammu and Kashmir, which held elections in three phases on September 18, September 24, and October 1, was 63.88%. This marks a slight decrease from the 65.52% turnout in the 2014 Assembly elections, while the turnout was 58.46% in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.
In Haryana, polling took place on Saturday and the approximate voter turnout was 61%.
The BJP has held power in Haryana since 2014, with Manohar Lal Khattar serving as chief minister for over nine years. In the 2019 elections, the BJP secured its second term in alliance with the JJP, led by Dushyant Singh Chautala as deputy chief minister. However, Khattar and Chautala resigned in March ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, paving the way for Nayab Singh Saini, a prominent OBC leader, to take over as chief minister. Following this, Chautala’s JJP ended its alliance with the BJP.
