There will be significant national implications ahead of the elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand later this year. And exit polls suggest a lead for the Congress and its allies in Haryana and J&K.
The counting of votes began in Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) on Tuesday, and two days later exit polls showed the Congress returning to power in several states, including northern India.
Amid the prospect of a House of Representatives that failed to produce a majority, the Himalayan alliance with the NC or National Conference emerged victorious. The elections in the two states are part of a series of forts-term elections.
The election is the first since the national polls were held this summer. The results are expected to have national implications ahead of the elections to be held in Maharashtra and Jharkhand later this year.
On October 5, single-phase polling was held for 90 seats in Haryana. And the eligible voters to cast their votes were 67.90% 1,031 candidates. After the failure of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to gain a majority, the Congress hoped to win in the next five years.
However, they chose to form the government with the help of one party, namely the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP). Several parties such as the Indian National Lok Dal, Bahujan Samaj Party and JJP could easily be eliminated because the polls showed that the Congress could get the highest percentage of votes.
Many issues colored the election contest such as dissatisfaction with the short-term army recruitment scheme, rumors of Agnipath, one of the India’a top wrestlers who protested against sexual harassment and dissatisfaction of farmers in India.
The History of Legislative Election in J&K
The Congress had won 31 of the 90 seats in Haryana in 2019, while the BJP won 40 seats. Meanwhile, the BJP and JJP alliance seemed to have failed earlier this year. The BJP took a stand by replacing the chief minister from Manohar Lal Khattar to Nayab Singh Saini.
The legislative elections in J&K were the first in a decade since the region lost its semi-autonomous status in August 2019 with the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution.
Not only that, in 2019 the region also lost its statehood. And the elections were expected to pave the way for the restoration of statehood which was a major issue.
There were three stages of voting at that time, including 24 seats contested in the first phase, 26 seats in the second phase, and 40 more seats in the third phase. And 873 candidates competed for 90 seats.
The general election was one of the battles between two candidates, namely the BJP and the NC-Congress alliance. And the exit polls showed that the BJP might be the largest party in Jammu, while its rival NC-Congress was predicted to be ahead in Kashmir with a possible majority of votes approaching 46 seats.
There will be concerns about the lieutenant governor’s authority to nominate five members of the assembly ahead of the counting of votes. This was done in order to increase the number of votes to 48.
However, the nomination process is still unclear and the NC plans to file a case with the Supreme Court regarding this matter. Meanwhile, in the 2014 election, the PDP became the largest party and formed a government and formed a coalition with BJP. The coalition ended in 2018 and the BJP again withdrew its support.