Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 8: Proving the exit poll predictions totally wrong, the BJP won a clear majority in the Haryana state Assembly elections while the National Conference – Congress alliance is all set to form a government in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir having crossed the majority mark even if the Lieutenant Governor nominated five members Sympathising with the BJP government at the Centre.
While most of the exit polls had predicted a clean sweep for the Congress in Haryana, the party ended nine seats behind the majority mark of 46 in the 90-member state Assembly while the BJP, which had to form a government with the support of Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) in 2019 secured a majority on its own with 48 seats, a gain of eight seats over the outgoing House. The JJP which had 10 seats last time, failed to even open its account this time.
The BJP is headed to form a third straight government in Haryana and is expected to be led by the incumbent chief minister Nayab Singh Saini, while in Jammu and Kashmir, the National Conference president Farooq Abdullah announced that his son and former chief minister Omar Abdullah would head the new government.
The Congress not only suffered a huge set back in Haryana having already discussing the chief ministerial candidate based on the exit poll predictions of a clean sweep, it also showed a lacklustre performance in Jammu and Kashmir where it won only six seats out of 29 it contested as an ally of the NC including a single seat it won in the Hindu-dominated Jammu region where the BJP continued to reign supreme.
Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party, which had high hopes of carving out a niche in Haryana, boosted by its victories in neighbouring Delhi and Punjab, has failed to open its account in Haryana but made the first inroads in Jammu and Kashmir winning the Doda seat.
The other big setback in the Valley has been reserved for Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party, which exit polls predicted would play kingmaker in a split verdict. The party, expected to win at least eight seats ended up only with two seats.
J&K’s smaller parties and Independents, many of them backed by the BJP, are leading on 9 seats. The BJP’s state leaders had said their tally would add to the party’s score and combined with the five MLAs nominated by the Governor, the party would be able to form government.
While the Congress is yet to accept its setback in Haryana, jubilant BJP leaders have attributed it to the party’s infighting and its treatment of Dalits and backward castes, pointing to its solid backing of Bhupinder Hooda instead of Kumari Selja.
What also went in BJP’s favour was the unexpected turn in terms of Jat votes. The Jats and the farmer community, said to be upset over the farm laws, the treatment of women wrestlers after sexual harassment allegations against a BJP MP and the Agniveer scheme, were expected to vote for the Congress.
But the BJP has won 70 per cent of the Jat-dominated seats and has done well even on seats dominated by Scheduled Castes.
The Congress alliance with the National Conference had an edge in exit polls, with the NC being projected as the single largest party. If numbers elude the parties, the J&K election results could head for a legal battle. The Congress accused the BJP of trying to subvert the verdict of the people of J&K by “all and any means.”
The Assembly Elections results in the Kashmir Valley have culminated in a significant rejection of separatist candidates, including those from Engineer Rashid-led Awami Ittehad Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, who failed to make a meaningful impact in the polls.
Despite their efforts, the majority of candidates associated with these groups lost their deposits, indicating a clear disapproval from the electorate. Notably, Aizaj Ahmed Guru, brother of Afzal Guru, suffered a crushing defeat in the Sopore assembly seat, receiving only 129 votes — significantly fewer than the 341 votes cast for the ‘None of the Above’ (NOTA) option.
The Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) of Engineer Rashid had fielded 44 candidates. However, even prominent figures, including AIP spokesperson Firdous Baba and businessman Sheikh Ashiq Hussain, found themselves unsuccessful, with many losing their deposits. Jamaat-e-Islami had put forward four candidates and supported an additional four, but other than Reshi, all were unsuccessful in securing even minimal support.
Shagun Parihar, the lone BJP woman candidate in the Jammu and Kashmir polls, won the Kishtwar Assembly seat and vowed to fight for the security of the region. Five years ago, she lost her father and uncle in a terror attack. Ms Parihar defeated Sajad Ahmed Kitchloo, a veteran National Conference (NC) leader and former minister. Ms Parihar is one of the 27 winning candidates of BJP and is also among the three women who have won elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
But the BJP State president Ravinder Raina resigned from the party post after losing to the NC candidate from the Nowshera constituency.
The CPI(M) leader M.Y. Tarigami won the Kulgam seat in south Kashmir for the fifth consecutive time.
In Haryana, Savitri Jindal, India’s richest woman, won the Hisar seat as an independent defeating her nearest BJP rival by a margin of over 18,000 votes. A former minister in the Congress government, the 74-year old Ms Jindal had entered the poll arena as an independent after being refused the BJP ticket, the party she had joined only in March along with her son Naveen Jindal, now a BJP member of the Lok Sabha from Kurushetra.
India’s ace wrestler, Vinesh Phogat, who missed a medal in the just-concluded Paris Olympics on being disqualified before the finals for weiging 100 grams more than her weigjt category, won the Julana seat on Congress ticket.
