With voting coming to an end for the Haryana assembly elections on Saturday, almost all exit polls have predicted a Congress sweep in the state, ending the 10-year rule of the BJP. In Jammu and Kashmir, the pollsters predict a hung house, though most of them give an edge to the Congress-National Conference alliance.
Jammu and Kashmir went to polls in three phases on September 18, September 25, and October 1 while in Haryana, the elections were held in a single phase on October 5. Counting of votes in both the states will take place on October 8.
Haryana exit polls results
All pollsters have predicted almost similar results for Haryana, claiming a clear majority for the Congress. The NDTV Polls of Polls give 54 seats to the Congress and 27 to the BJP. The Dainik Bhaskar polls have predicted the Congress getting 44-54 seats and the BJP 15-29.
The Dhruv Research puts the Congress tally even higher at 50-64 seats against the BJP’s 22-32. The Peoples Pulse has also made a similar predictions, giving 49-61 seats for the Congress and 20-32 seats for the BJP.
The Republic Bharat-Matrize pegs the Congress at 55-62 and the BJP at 18-24. The Red Mike-Datansh exit poll, meanwhile, gives the Congress 50-55 seats and the BJP 20-25.
The release of Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal from jail ahead of the elections seems to have had little impact on voters, with all pollsters except for the Dainik Bhaskar predicting zero seat for the party.
Jammu and Kashmir exit polls results
In Jammu and Kashmir, the People Pulse claims that the National Conference-Congress alliance will cross the majority mark by winning 46-50 seats. However, other pollsters predict a hung house in the union territory. The NDTV gives 42 seats for the NC-Congress alliance and 27 for the BJP.
According to Dainik Bhaskar, NC-Congress alliance will bag 35-40 seats while the BJP will get 20-25 seats. India Today-C Voter puts the NC-Congress alliance at 40-48 seats and the 20-32 seats. Axis My India also gives a similar results, pegging Congress-NC tally at 35-45 seats and the BJP at 24-34 seats.
Congress eyes comeback in Haryana
In Haryana, the BJP hopes to retain power for a third consecutive term while the Congress eyes a comeback after a decade-long hiatus. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is the thir major player.
There was a pre-poll alliance between Indian National Lok Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party (INLD-BSP) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP)-Azad Samaj Party (ASP).
In 29019, the BJP had won 40 of the 90 seats and formed a coalition government with the JJP, which won 10 seats. The JJP later broke out of the coalition. The Congress bagged 31 seats.
The BJP is contesting the polls under the leadership of Nayab Singh Saini who became chief minister in March this year replacing Manohar Lal Khattar. The Congress, meanwhile, hopes to wrest back power riding on anti-incumbency, and issues of farmer protests and wrestlers protest.
Issues related to women, youth, farmers and the poor formed the core of respective poll manifestos of the two main contesting parties.
Litmus test for BJP in J&K
Results of Jammu and Kashmir, which goes to assembly polls for the first time after the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of the state, will be a litmus test for the BJP.
The saffron party hopes to become the single largest party in the union territory while the National Conference-Congress alliance aims to form government with the support of like-minded parties. The PDP, meanwhile, chose not to be part of any pre-poll alliance.
In the 2014 Assembly polls, the PDP won seven of the 15 seats in north Kashmir, while the NC and Congress secured three and two seats respectively.