Chandigarh, Oct 8 (PTI) The ruling BJP has crossed the majority mark in the Haryana assembly and was leading on 49 seats, while the Congress was ahead on 35, according to the latest trends available on the Election Commission website.
Among prominent candidates, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Congress leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Vinesh Phogat, Udai Bhan, Independent candidate Savitri Jindal, were ahead on their respective seats.
However, senior BJP leader Anil Vij, INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala and JJP’s Dushyant Chautala were trailing.
The counting of votes began at 8 am amid tight security.
According to EC trends available around 12.30 pm, the BJP was leading on 49 seats and the Congress on 35. Independents were leading on four seats while the INLD and BSP were ahead on one seat each. The Aam Aadmi Party is yet to get off the mark.
Chief Minister Saini, who is contesting from Ladwa in Kurukshetra, was leading by a margin of 9,632 votes over his Congress rival and sitting MLA Mewa Singh.
Former chief minster leader Hooda, who is seeking a reelection from Garhi Sampla-Kiloi, was leading by a healthy margin of 41,077 votes over the BJP’s Manju Hooda.
Congress’ Vinesh Phogat, an Olympic wrestler, was ahead of her BJP rival Yogesh Kumar in Julana seat in Jind district by 4,130 votes.
In the outgoing assembly, the BJP has 41 MLAs (including the Adampur seat won in 2022 bypoll), the Congress has 28 MLAs, the JJP (6), while the Haryana Lokhit Party and Indian National Lok Dal have one member each. There are four Independents, while nine seats are vacant.
According to the latest EC trends, Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala, the sitting MLA from Ellenabad, was trailing the Congress’ Bharat Singh Beniwal by 7,710 votes.
However, Abhay’s son and INLD candidate Arjun Chautala was leading from the Rania seat over his granduncle and Independent candidate Ranjit Chautala by a margin of 6,161 votes.
From the Uchana Kalan seat, Congress’ Brijendra Singh was leading over his nearest BJP rival Devinder Attri by a margin of 3,236 votes, while sitting MLA and JJP leader Dushyant Chautala was trailing.
Among the Independents, Savitri Jindal, mother of BJP MP from Kurukshetra Naveen Jindal, was leading from Hisar seat over her nearest rival Ram Niwas Rara of the Congress by a margin of 3,836 votes. BJP MLA Kamal Gupta was trailing from Hisar.
From Ambala Cantt, senior BJP leader and former Minister Anil Vij was trailing Independent Chitra Sarwara by a slender margin of 671 votes.
Among other Independents in the lead are Devinder Kadian (a BJP rebel) from Ganaur and Rajesh Joon (Congress rebel) from Bahadurgarh.
Bahujan Samaj Party’s Attar Lal was leading from Ateli seat over BJP rival Arti Singh Rao by a margin of 5,424 votes. Arti is daughter of Union Minister and BJP MP from Gurgaon, Rao Inderjit Singh.
BSP contested the polls in alliance with the INLD.
Other leading candidates include BJP’s Rao Narbir Singh from Badshahpur, Bhavya Bishnoi from Adampur, Mool Chand Sharma from Ballabhgarh, Ranbir Gangwa from Barwala, and Vipul Goel from Faridabad.
Harvinder Kalyan is leading from Gharaunda, Mukesh Sharma from Gurgaon, Krishan Lal Panwar from Israna, Gian Chand Gupta from Panchkula, Subhash Sudha from Thanesar, Mahipal Dhanda from Panipat Rural and Shruti Choudhary from Tosham.
Among other Congress candidates who were leading are Aditya Surjewala from Kaithal, Brijendra Singh from Uchana Kalan, B B Batra from Rohtak, Geeta Bhukkal from Jhajjar, Raghuvir Singh Kadian from Beri and Rao Dan Singh from Mahendragarh.
Aftab Ahmed is leading from Nuh, Mamman Khan from Ferozepur Jhirkha and Mohd Illyas from Punhana.
The trailing candidates include BJP’s O P Dhankar from Badli and Capt Abhimanyu from Narnaund, Congress’ Kuldeep Sharma from Ganaur, Anirudh Chaudhary from Tosham, and Haryana Lokhit Party chief Gopal Kanda from Sirsa.
While the BJP is looking to retain power for a third consecutive term, the Congress is eyeing a comeback in Haryana after 10 years.
Haryana’s Chief Electoral Officer Pankaj Agarwal said three-tier security arrangements have been put in place at counting venues.
Agarwal had Monday said the postal ballots will be counted first, followed by the counting of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
Several exit polls have predicted a Congress victory in Haryana which recorded a voter turnout of 67.90 per cent. However, the BJP has claimed it will return to power for a third consecutive term.
The key parties and alliances in the fray are the BJP, the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, INLD-BSP and JJP-Azad Samaj Party. However, most seats will see a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress.
A total of 1,031 candidates, including 464 Independents and 101 women, are in the fray on Haryana’s 90 constituencies which voted in a single phase on October 5.
The BJP had formed the government in 2019 with the help of the JJP.
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