Election Results 2024 Highlights: Made EC aware of 20 complaints from 7 constituencies, demanded sealing of EVMs, says Congress

Shiv Sena (UBT) on Wednesday blamed ally Congress's defeat in Haryana on "overconfidence", and said the Congress must decide whether it wants to contest the Maharashtra elections on its own.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party also reiterated its demand that the Opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance that also includes the NCP led by Sharad Pawar should declare its chief ministerial face ahead of the elections.

The comments drew a sharp response from the Congress which said such criticism will not be tolerated.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Wednesday slammed ally Shiv Sena (UBT)'s MP Sanjay Raut for his remarks on Haryana poll outcome, stressing that accusations against Congress won't be tolerated.

Notably, the sparring between the two key Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents cropped up even as the seat-sharing deliberations for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly polls is yet to be finalised.

A day after the BJP won a third consecutive term in Haryana, Raut suggested Congress' overconfidence was responsible for its defeat as the party didn't cobble up an alliance and instead chose to go solo.

Hours after the Election Commission criticised the Congress for rejecting the Haryana Assembly election results, and called their remarks “undemocratic,” Congress leader Pawan Khera said Congress leaders KC Venugopal, Ashok Gehlot, Jairam Ramesh, Ajay Maken, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and other party leaders had met ECI officials. 'We told ECI about the 20 complaints, of which seven are written complaints from seven constituencies. There were machines that were at 99% and other normal machines were at 60-70% on the day of counting. We demanded that those machines should be sealed and secured until the investigation is complete.'

Hitting out at the Congress for questioning the Election Commission for its Haryana poll debacle, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday said the opposition party should learn to respect and accept the decision of people.

"Now, don't blame EVM and Election Commission again," Rijiju said on X while responding to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks that the opposition party will apprise the EC of the complaints from assembly constituencies.

"Learn to respect and accept the decision of the people," said the parliamentary affairs minister.

Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Pawan Khera had termed the results of the Haryana elections as "unacceptable" as the party faced shock defeat in the state at the hands of the BJP.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders here on Wednesday ahead of his likely swearing-in as the head of the new government in the state following the party's remarkable win in the assembly polls.

The BJP had indicated during the elections that Saini, who replaced Manohar Lal Khattar in March and hails from the Other Backward Classes, will be its choice for the top post if it wins.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Saini credited Modi's policies for the party's success.

“There was a total monopoly of one family on the Congress in Haryana,” said Kumari Selja as the unexpected results in the state took many, including the Congress, by surprise, paving the way for the BJP to form a government for an unprecedented third time.Selja, the former Union Minister and current Sirsa MP, did not name either Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda or his son Deepender, the Rohtak MP. But it was clear whom she was referring to. “That is why we have reached this stage,” she said. “The people wanted the Congress this time. But the Congress became symbolised by only one family and this has been going on for the last 25 years and now there was a huge backlash.”

The Aam Aadmi Party will contest the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections alone against an "overconfident" Congress, a party member said on Wednesday.

"In Delhi, AAP will contest alone. We are capable of fighting the overconfident Congress and arrogant BJP alone," AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar said.

She blamed the Congress for not taking alliance partners seriously in Haryana and ultimately facing a rout due to its overconfidence.

"The Congress has had zero seats in the Delhi assembly for the past 10 years, yet AAP gave Congress three seats in the Lok Sabha polls; still they did not feel necessary to take allies along in Haryana," she said.

Jammu and Kashmir Congress chief Tariq Hameed Karra on Wednesday said the party would introspect its dismal performance in the assembly polls in the Jammu region.

He also alleged that there were some lapses on part of the administration or some deliberate attempts in the run up to the polls.

"We are very sorry for that, but we will introspect it. But, there are other factors also. There were lapses on part of the administration, or some deliberate attempts - in the last three days all the checkpoints established by the police were taken off, and the distribution of money and liquor was facilitated," Karra told PTI.

Taking a swipe at the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it an irresponsible party and a factory to "spread hatred" which wants to divide Hindus and pit one community against another.

"The Congress is an irresponsible party and a factory to spread hatred. The Congress is not concerned about development and legacy, we have paid attention to both," he said.

"Our goal is Viksit Bharat with the development of poor, farmers, youth and women," the prime minister said.

During the virtual launch of development projects in Maharashtra, the PM praised the BJP's performance in the Haryana Assembly polls and emphasized the need for an even greater victory in Maharashtra.

Elections to the 22-member Maharashtra assembly are likely to be held next month.

During the virtual launch of development projects in Maharashtra, Prime Minister Modi praised the BJP's performance in the Haryana Assembly polls and emphasized the need for an even greater victory in Maharashtra.

“BJP has won Haryana assembly polls and in Maharashtra, we have to get a bigger victory. BJP's historic win in Haryana polls shows mood of the country,” he said.

A day after the Haryana Assembly poll results came, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati blamed the “casteist mentality” of the Jat community and its consolidated support for the Congress for her party’s defeat in the elections, which it contested in alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal.

Mayawati said the Jat community in Haryana was upset with the BJP for the anti-farmer policies of its government in the state and at the Centre. “Because of that, the majority of Jats voted for the Congress to stop the BJP from coming to power. Jats avoided dividing their votes among different alliances and the INLD-BSP alliance got their votes in almost negligible numbers as a result,” she said.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday took a jibe at alliance partner Congress for its poor showing in the Haryana assembly elections. The UBT Sena leader said that the Congress felt they could win on their own without the support of allies.

"INDIA alliance could not win in Haryana because the Congress felt they would win on their own and they did not need any other partner in power. Congress leader Hooda Ji felt we would win. If they (Congress) had shared seats with the Samajwadi Party, AAP or other smaller parties, the results would have been different. The way the BJP fought the elections is very good. BJP won a lost battle. Everybody believed the Congress was winning but it still lost and the BJP won because it has a systematic system, management, we need it to give to them for this," Raut said.

"Both Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana had 90-90 constituencies, one 90 went to INDIA and the other went to the BJP. Both JK and Haryana had their own value, but the Union territory was more important for BJP. Article 370 remained an issue for the 2024 elections but they still lost. We won in JK because INDIA was contesting in the alliance with JKNC under Chief Farooq Abdullah." 

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday ahead of the formation of the BJP government for a record third consecutive term in Haryana after winning 48 out of the 90 Assembly seats in the state.

Sources in the Haryana BJP said that important issues, including the date and venue for the swearing-in ceremony of the new government, had to be discussed.

Speaking about the Haryana Assembly election results, National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah Wednesday said the Congress will have to introspect deep to find reasons for its defeat in the state.

"I had already said we were only wasting our time with these exit polls. But no one would have thought that the exit polls would be so wrong. Had it been 20 in place of 18 or 22 in place of 20, (we could have understood). But what happened was that 30 became 60 and 60 became 30," the NC leader said.

"The Congress will have to go deep into it and find the reasons for its defeat," Abdullah said.

"My job is to run the NC and help the alliance here, which I will," he added. The NC and Congress fought the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls as allies.

In his first comments following the election results in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi stated that his party was analysing the “unexpected results in Haryana.” He also mentioned that they would be informing the Election Commission about the complaints received from various assembly constituencies. On Tuesday the Congress raised concern over an “unexplained slowdown in updating of results” from the Haryana Assembly election on its website.

Gandhi further expressed his gratitude to the people of Jammu and Kashmir after the NC-Congress alliance secured 49 of the 90 assembly seats in the state. He described the INDIA bloc’s victory as a “victory of the Constitution, a victory of democratic self-respect.” 

BJP's newly elected MLA from Haryana's Ambala Cantt. seat, Anil Vij on Wednesday took a dig at the Congress saying that whenever the results didn’t come in their favour, the party blamed the EVM.

"When the results do not come in their favour, they blame the EVM. Everyone knows about this character of the Congress party,” he said.

"Everyone was talking about anti-incumbency but no one knew about pro-incumbency. Our government worked a lot. We changed the system and removed corruption. We stopped the loot that was being done over the years. Even when all the stats were against us, I said that BJP would form the government,” said Vij.

The National Conference secured 42 of the 56 seats as the results of the Jammu and Kashmir elections came out yesterday, making it the single largest party in this election. 

While the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP was routed in the Kashmir Valley, reduced to just three seats.

When asked by the media if his party was approached by the PDP, National Conference chief Omar Abdullah said, “"Right now, we are not having any talks on this. No approach has been made to us by the PDP, we have made no approach to them. I think, at the moment, given the results in the elections which have been quite a setback to them, I can understand that there must be a lot of internal discussion going on. At some point in time, if a channel of communication opens, we will sit down and talk to them. But it's not a priority for us at the moment."

On Tuesday, Omar secured decisive victories in both the central Kashmir constituencies — Budgam and Ganderbal — from where he contested.

Tuesday’s Assembly poll results in Jammu and Kashmir showed a uniform trend, with the BJP performing well in the Hindu-dominated SC-reserved seats, and the Congress-National Conference (NC) and Independents winning the Muslim-dominated ST-reserved ones.

All seven of the SC-reserved seats in J&K and six of its nine ST-reserved ones fall in the Jammu province. The BJP won all the SC-reserved seats, but could not win a single ST-reserved seat in the Jammu region – including the districts of Rajouri, Poonch and Reasi.

As the BJP regained power in Haryana for the third time, Union Minister and former Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar praised the work done by the party under the leadership of PM Modi.

“The kind of work that the BJP is doing under the leadership of PM Modi, it is all being liked by the people. People are liking the policies and they are responding to it...Silent votes played a major role,” he said.

BJP leader Mahipal Dhanda, who secured victory in the Panipat Rural seat on Tuesday, described the party's third consecutive return to power as a historic achievement.

“It’s a historic victory of BJP (in Haryana) for the third time. Congress kept dreaming and we formed the government. Congress’ anger was the reason behind its defeat,” he said.

ECI Haryana Results 2024: ECI Election Results Haryana 2024: As Haryana election results roll in, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to have defied exit poll predictions. It is leading in over 46 seats, on course to form the government in the state for an unprecedented third consecutive term. Despite forecasts of a sweeping victory for the Indian National Congress, the BJP seems on way to improving its 2019 performance, when it secured 40 seats and had to ally with the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).

Click here to know the five factors that contributed to the BJP’s apparent success.

“There was a total monopoly of one family on the Congress in Haryana,” said Kumari Selja as the unexpected results in the state took many, including the Congress, by surprise, paving the way for the BJP to form a government for an unprecedented third time.

Selja, the former Union Minister and current Sirsa MP, did not name either Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda or his son Deepender, the Rohtak MP. But it was clear whom she was referring to. “That is why we have reached this stage,” she said. “The people wanted the Congress this time. But the Congress became symbolised by only one family and this has been going on for the last 25 years and now there was a huge backlash.”

Hailing his party’s victory in Haryana as the “people’s answer” to a Congress “conspiracy to divide the country on grounds of caste” and “defame Indian democracy and its institutions”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday also slammed the Congress for refusing to accept the Haryana poll results, saying it had questioned the neutrality of the Election Commission even during the Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing BJP workers at the party headquarters in New Delhi, Modi said, “The message is clear that this conspiracy to divide the nation won’t work. In recent days, there have been many conspiracies against India’s democracy, economy and social cohesion. There are global conspiracies against these. I say with responsibility today that the Congress is part of this game. Nationalist Haryana has given a resounding slap to the conspirators. We have to resolve not to allow any such conspiracy to succeed.”

“Congress wants a society where people hate their own heritage. It wants to project in a bad light all that people of the country are proud of. Be it any institution, the Congress wants to defame it. They and their Urban Naxal friends went to the judiciary to defame the Election Commission. They have done the same thing today. It wants to defame our institutions. The Congress shamelessly commits such deeds,” he said. Read Full Report

Among the eight dynasts the BJP fielded in Haryana — most from families with Congress backgrounds — seven won their elections, with only Kuldeep Bishnoi’s son Bhavya Bishnoi losing the Adampur seat to the Congress by 1,268 votes. While it sees itself as a party that functions on cadre lines, the BJP tasted complete success among the dynasts it fielded.

Shakti Rani Sharma, the wife of former Congress leader Venod Sharma and mother of Rajya Sabha MP Kartikeya Sharma, won the Kalka seat on a BJP ticket by 10,883 votes.

Manmohan Bhadana, son of former MLA Kartar Singh Bhadana, won the Samalkha seat on a BJP ticket by 19,315 votes. The senior Badhana was instrumental in the formation of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) government in 1999, when his breakaway group of MLAs from the Haryana Vikas Party supported Devi Lal’s son Om Prakash Chautala, who went on to become the CM. In 2012, Kartar Singh won an Uttar Pradesh Assembly bypoll from Khatauli on an RLD ticket. He joined the BJP recently. Read Full Report

ECI Election Results Haryana 2024: Haryana election results 2024: The contest in Haryana seems to be going differently from what the exit polls predicted. The BJP has maintained a significant lead since the counting of EVMs began, and continues to lead on 49 seats for the last 4 hours of counting. Exit polls had predicted a majority for Congress.

Should the BJP manage a historic third straight win in Haryana, it will be a vindication of its tried and tested electoral arithmetic — consolidating all non-Jat votes. Jats are a significant voting bloc in Haryana, and the Congress was banking heavily on their support. Read Full Report

Barring Nowshera, Chhamb and Bani seats, which went to Independents, the BJP swept the entire predominantly Hindu-inhabited areas across the Jammu province in the Assembly elections.

The BJP, which had won 25 seats in these districts of Udhampur, Jammu, Samba, Kathua and Reasi in the 2014 Assembly polls, won 29 this time. (The total seats in the Jammu province are 43 now, following delimitation, instead of 37 when the elections were last held in J&K in 2014.)

The Congress contested 30 of Jammu’s 43 seats, including four where it was in a friendly contest with the NC. The only seat it won was Rajouri (ST-reserved), where its candidate Iftkar Ahmed scraped through by 1,404 votes, making it the party’s worst-ever performance in Jammu. It was the first time constituencies were reserved for STs in J&K, and Ahmed defeated senior BJP leader Vibodh Gupta.

The Congress had won five seats in Jammu province in the 2014 elections. Read Full Report

Its electoral expectations and calculations gone wrong in Haryana, the Congress Tuesday took the unprecedented step of declaring that it will not accept the verdict, alleging there was a “conspiracy” hatched through “manipulation” of Electronic Voting Machines.

The Congress allegation – it is the first time that a mainstream party has refused to accept the mandate alleging manipulation of EVMs – came even as its stalwarts in Haryana, Kumari Selja and Bhupinder Singh Hooda, conceded defeat with Selja targeting the Hooda camp for the loss. Hooda, on his part said, he would accept the results “under protest” although he was “surprised” by the outcome.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters, Congress communication head Jairam Ramesh said, “I would like to reiterate that the results in Haryana are unexpected, surprising and that we don’t accept them because this is a defeat of democracy and a win of the device.” Read Full Story

With the National Conference-Congress combine crossing the majority mark, the PDP getting just three seats, and smaller parties and Independents failing to live up to the hype, here is a look at the prominent winners and losers in the Valley after Tuesday’s results in the J&K Assembly elections.

Omar Abdullah: The National Conference vice president and former J&K chief minister won from both Budgam and Ganderbal Assembly seats, defeating PDP candidates in both constituencies by 18,000 and 10,000 votes respectively.

Tariq Hameed Karra: The Pradesh Congress Committee president won from the Central Shalteng seat in Srinagar, where he was up against national Conference rebel Mohammad Irfan Shah, who contested as an Independent candidate. Karra secured 18,933 votes as against Shah’s 4,538 votes.

Waheed Parra: The PDP youth president was one of just three candidates from the party to win Tuesday. Parra defeated National Conference candidate and former party colleague Mohammad Khalil Bandh by over 8,000 votes in Pulwama. Bandh had won the Pulwama seat for three consecutive terms in 2002, 2008 and 2014. Read More

With the National Conference-Congress combine crossing the majority mark, the PDP getting just three seats, and smaller parties and Independents failing to live up to the hype, here is a look at the prominent winners and losers in the Valley after Tuesday’s results in the J&K Assembly elections. Check out the list

Even as she acknowledged that the People's Democratic Party had suffered a blow in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, Mehbooba Mufti said it “is not out” from the picture. “We are still a force to reckon with,” she said.

This statement came after the PDP witnessed its worst electoral performance since its inception in 1999, and was reduced to only 3 seats. In 2014, the party had won 28 seats, emerged as the single largest party and went on to form the government in alliance with the BJP.

Among the high-profile losses this time was that of Mufti’s daughter Iltija Mufti from Srigufwara-Bijbehara and Mufti’s uncle Sartaj Madni from Kulgam. Other senior leaders such as Abdul Rehman Veeri and Mehboob Beig lost from Anantnag East and Anantnag respectively.

As the results became clear Tuesday, Mufti conceded defeat and congratulated the people of Jammu and Kashmir for “voting for a stable government”. 

BJP's Jammu and Kashmir chief Ravinder Raina lost from the Nowshera constituency in the Jammu province to National Conference's Surinder Kumar Choudhary by a margin of 7,819 votes. 

Jammu and Kashmir is all set to have a National Conference-Congress government after the results of its first Assembly elections in 10 years and the first one since the scrapping of its special status in August 2019. 

Of the 49 seats won by the alliance, 42 were won by the NC, which had won 15 seats in the 2014 elections. The Congress got just six seats, compared to 12 in 2014. It got just one seat in Jammu, in its worst-ever performance in the province. Meanwhile, the CPI(M) retained Kulgam, with M Y Tarigami winning for the 5th consecutive time. 

The biggest challenge for the new government is likely to be how to give representation to the Hindu-dominated mainland Jammu, where the combine won no seat. The eight seats the two parties won in the Jammu province all fall in its hilly areas, including the Congress one and the NC seven.

Read more key takeaways from the Jammu and Kashmir election results here

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed a victory in the Haryana Assembly elections for a consecutive third time, despite facing considerable anti-incumbency, along with farmer and wrestler anger over long-lasting protests and discontent over the Agniveer scheme.

However, the party managed to get its act together, and came out on top of its principal opposition Congress, winning 48 seats in the 90-member Assembly. 

We take a look at how it achieved the results

After winning 10 seats in the 2019 Assembly elections and becoming a kingmaker, former Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) hit rock bottom this time, with the party failing to win a single seat.  

A pre-poll alliance between the JJP and the Chandersekhar Azad-led Azad Samaj Party (ASP-Kanshi Ram) had announced candidates in all of Haryana’s 90 Assembly seats. However, eventually, the JJP ended up contesting 66 seats and the ASP 12.

All these candidates, except Digvijay Chautala who contested from Dabwali, lost their security deposits.

The JJP has been in tatters since the BJP snapped ties with Dushyant in March this year.

Read more here

Addressing a BJP meeting at party headquarters, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that farmers in Haryana have given Congress a "befitting reply", and showed that they are with the country and with BJP. 

Addressing a BJP meeting at party headquarters, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the National Conference for its victory in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. 

He also said that BJP had emerged as the largest party in terms of vote-share. 

Addressing a BJP meeting at party headquarters, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that BJP governments were being re-elected repeatedly in states, giving examples such as Haryana, Uttarakhand and Tripura. 

He also pointed out that the last time a Congress government was re-elected was way back in 2013 in Assam. 

Addressing a BJP workers' meeting after the results of the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra said the "lotus has bloomed in Haryana for the third time", referring to the party's hat-trick in the state. He also called this the "victory of the Constitution".

Reacting to the National Conference-Congress alliance win in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said the "mandate makes me feel more humble".

Omar, the son of NC president Farooq Abdullah, himself won from both the seats he had contested: Budgam and Ganderbal.

Speaking to news agency PTI, he said, "Coming on the back of what was a personal setback in the Baramulla elections, and I am deeply grateful to all the voters who reposed their faith in the National Conference and in the wider alliance."

He added, "At the moment, it is for the National Conference legislative party to choose its leader. I think my colleagues deserve one day to celebrate their victories in their areas. So, tomorrow we will do that."

He further said that the process of electing the alliance leader in the Assembly, who will become the Chief Minister, will start in a day or two. 

Veteran Congress leader and Sirsa MP Kumari Selja laid the blame for Congress's poll debacle in the Haryana Assembly elections on the shoulders of the party's state leadership: Haryana’s party affairs incharge Deepak Babaria, Pradesh Congress Committee president Udai Bhan, Congress Legislature Party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and his son and Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda.

In an interview with The Indian Express, she said, "The state unit of the party failed to capitalise on the ground created by Rahul Gandhi ji. It is unbelievable how badly we lost."

On factors that may have led to the Congress’s defeat, Selja, ostensibly referring to the Hoodas, said, “We failed to see what people were showing us. We only saw what a particular set of people were showing. If we had taken this seriously, if we had worked out things properly, the results would have been different today. Several party workers were propped up by them (the Hoodas) and assured party tickets. They all turned rebels during the polling. I mean, they might have not contested as independents or jumped to other parties, but they worked as rebels in their respective constituencies.”

Veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader M Y Tarigami won from his stronghold of Kulgam for the 5th consecutive time in the recently-held Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. 

Tarigami secured 33,634 votes and won the seat by a margin of 7,838 votes, defeating his nearest rival Reshi, who contested polls for the first time and received 25,796 votes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "proud of the BJP’s performance in Jammu and Kashmir" on Tuesday, as the results for the recently-held Assembly elections were announced. 

He also congratulated the National Conference for their "commendable performance".

Taking to social media platform X, he wrote: "These elections in Jammu and Kashmir have been very special. They were held for the first time after the removal of Articles 370 and 35(A) and witnessed a high turnout, thus showing the people’s belief in democracy. I compliment each and every person of Jammu and Kashmir for this."

He added, "I thank all those who have voted for our Party and placed their trust in us. I assure the people that we will keep working for the welfare of Jammu and Kashmir. I also appreciate the industrious efforts of our Karyakartas."

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the Bharatiya Janata Party's historic third consecutive win in the Haryana Assembly elections the "victory of politics of development and good governance".

Expressing his gratitude to the people of Haryana, he wrote: "I assure the people here that we will leave no stone unturned to fulfill their aspirations."

He added: "My heartiest congratulations to all my party workers who have worked tirelessly and with full dedication for this great victory! You have not only served the people of the state to the fullest, but have also taken our agenda of development to them. This is the result of which BJP has got this historic victory in Haryana."

The Congress on Tuesday termed the BJP win in Haryana “a victory of manipulations”, and said serious issues raised by its candidates will be reported to the Election Commission.

Addressing a press conference, Rajya Sabha MP Jairam Ramesh said, "In Haryana, it’s a victory of manipulations, subverting will of people and a defeat of transparent, democratic processes". “Victory is snatched from us in Haryana, results are against sentiment of people which was for change," he added. 

“Results in Haryana [are] totally unexpected, surprising; they go against ground reality,” he said.

Former Haryana deputy chief minister and Jannayak Janata Party chief Dushyant Chautala failed to retain the Uchana Kalan constituency. 

He came in fifth place behind BJP's Devender Chatar Bhuj Attri, Congress's Brijendra Singh, and Independent candidates Virender Ghogharian and Vikas. 

Dushyant received only 7,950 votes. 

Former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala's grandson Arjun Chautala won from the Rania constituency, giving the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) its second seat in the Assembly.

Earlier, Aditya Devilal had been declared the winner from the Dabwali constituency. 

Despite coming back to power for a historic third time, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost the Panchkula constituency in Haryana tosay.

Congress candidate Chander Mohan Bishnoi emerged victorious by a narrow margin of 1,976 votes against the BJP’s Gian Chand Gupta in Panchkula. 

Among the reasons attributed for BJP's loss are anti-incumbency, dependence on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's image, and division of votes.

We take a closer look

Union Home Minister Amit Shah commended the recently-held election in Jammu and Kashmir, saying that "democracy has now been revived in the Kashmir valley." 

On a post on social media platform X, he wrote: "People elected their representatives without any terror and panic."

He also slammed the Congress for the "reign of terror". He wrote: "In Jammu and Kashmir, where under the Congress rule, there was only reign of terror and democracy was being murdered every day, under the BJP rule, the great festival of democracy was celebrated with full pomp and peace. The people of Jammu and Kashmir remember the 1987 assembly elections very well, when the Congress made a mockery of democracy by openly rigging the elections."

Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan lost from his family seat of Hodal, to BJP's Harinder Singh, by a margin of 2,595 votes. 

While he might have weathered many a storm in the past, this Haryana defeat may be hard for former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to live down as it was seen as the Congress’s election to lose. The BJP government was facing severe anti-incumbency, a reflection of which was seen in the Lok Sabha elections held earlier this year, when its tally came down from 10 to five.

Questions are now set to be asked about the excessive Jat focus of the Congress campaign under Hooda, helping the BJP rally the anti-Jat votes. To make it worse, the Congress did not even sweep the Jat strongholds. The heat will singe Hooda, and could also scald his son and Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda.

Read more here

The Indian National Lok Dal opened its account in the Haryana Assembly elections, with Aditya Devilal retaining the Dabwali constituency.

Meanwhile, Arjun Chautala is leading from Rania constituency. 

Independent candidate Rajesh Joon has won from the Bahadurgarh constituency, unseating Congress's Rajinder Singh Joon, who came in third behind BJP's Dinesh Kaushik. 

Addressing a press conference after the National Conference-Congress alliance won the recently-held Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, senior leader Jairam Ramesh said that the priority of the government will be the restoration of statehood for J&K.

In August 2019, the Narendra Modi-led Central government had abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, and made Jammu and Kashmir a Union Territory. 

Independent candidates have failed to make much of an impact in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Election results. Only 7 of them have managed to win from their constituencies. Here they are:

1) Shabir Ahmad Kullay from Shopian

2) Pyare Lal Sharma from Inderwal

3) Dr Rameshwar Singh from Bani

4) Choudhary Mohammed Akram from Surankote (ST) 

5) Khursheed Ahmad Shiekh from Langate

6) Satish Sharma from Chhamb

7) Muzaffar Iqbal Khan from Thannamandi (ST)

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress are almost neck-to-neck in Haryana, with the ruling party winning 29 seats as per latest ECI trends, while the Congress is behind with 28 seats in its kitty. 

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s strategy for Haryana has been clear since 2014, when it jumped from 4 to 47 seats, and removed the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government from power. Contrary to conventional expectations, Manohar Lal Khattar, a Punjabi Khatri, was appointed as Chief Minister. 

The party focused on securing the OBC vote, which makes up about 40 per cent of the population, by elevating Nayab Singh Saini, an OBC, as state party chief and later as Khattar’s replacement in March this year.

Additionally, BJP also targeted SC voters, particularly through women’s self-help groups in villages. The ‘Lakhpati Drone Didis’, often from Dalit families, became symbols of this outreach. Prime Minister Narendra Modi even personally invited many of them. This sentiment resonated among the youth as well, as reflected in the words of an ITI student in Ambala who remarked, “Modi ji will elevate SCs to the general category.”

Speaking to the media after winning the Lal Chowk constituency in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections, National Conference's Sheikh Ahsan Ahmed said, "People have again proved NC is the only party that can be trusted."

He added, "BJP has only tried to weaken the National Conference but the people have given them a loud and clear message that they still believe in the NC."

#WATCH | Srinagar, J&K: NC winning candidate from Lal Chowk assembly seat, Sheikh Ahsan Ahmed says, "I am very happy... People have again proved that NC is the only party that can be trusted. BJP has only tried to weaken the National Conference but the people have given them a… pic.twitter.com/7AH1jSIqcb

— ANI (@ANI) October 8, 2024

BJP candidate Mukesh Sharma has won from the Gurgaon Assembly constituency. 

Incumbent Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has won from the Ladwa constituency in the Haryana Assembly elections, by a margin of over 16,000 votes against Congress's Mewa Singh.