Exit Polls: Congress May End Year On Sweet Note, Likely To Win Haryana After 10 Years; J&K May See A Hung House

Pic courtesy ECI

New Delhi: Going by the exit polls, the Congress is likely to form the next government in Haryana, ending the 10-year run of the BJP; and its alliance with National Conference may stay ahead in the race for Jammu and Kashmir. The exit polls have predicted a fractured mandate for Jammu and Kashmir.

An aggregate of seven exit polls indicates that the Congress will win 55 of Haryana’s 90 seats, ahead of the halfway mark of 45, according to a NDTV report.

Out of 90 seats in Jammu and Kashmir, the Congress-National Conference alliance is likely to win 43 seats, three less than the majority mark. However, the exit polls often don’t match the actual results.

The BJP could end up with 27 seats each in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, according to the exit polls. One of the exit polls, conducted by Jist-TIF Research, showed the BJP an outside margin of 37 seats, the maximum, in Haryana.
While Abhay Chautala’s INLD (Indian National Lok Dal) could win two seats, the BJP’s former ally JJP (Jannayak Janata Party) can manage to win one seat in Haryana.

Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party may not be able to open its account in Haryana.
In Jammu and Kashmir—where polls were held after a decade—there are chances of a hung assembly. An aggregate of three exit polls predict that the Congress and the National Conference will fetch 43 seats.

It has been predicted that the BJP may get 26 seats, far enough from the majority mark to forge any alliance with smaller parties or Independent candidates.
Former BJP ally, Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples Democratic Party, may get seven seats, but it has ruled out any possibility of an alliance with the saffron party.

The National Conference and the Congress could approach the PDP but the historic rivalry between then NC and the PDP is a hurdle. However, Mehbooba Mufti had extended a loaded offer to the NC-Congress alliance ahead of the polls. She had said she was ready to stay out of the polls and leave all assembly seats for them if they were ready to accept her party’s agenda.