Haryana-Jammu Kashmir Assembly Election Result 2024: The results of Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections will start coming from 8 am today, Tuesday, October 8. All preparations are complete for the counting of votes. Security arrangements have been tightened at the counting centers. Given security, Election Commission officials will be present at the counting centers. The major parties of both the states are claiming their victory. On the other hand, assembly elections have been concluded in Jammu and Kashmir after 10 years. After a long gap of 10 years, the people of Jammu and Kashmir, including the whole country, were eagerly waiting for the result, whose wait was about to end. Initial trends will start coming from 8 am. By noon, the picture of the election will be clear to a large extent. Here, according to the exit poll survey in Haryana, there are indications of Congress coming with a majority. But, how accurate the exit polls will be, it will be clear to some extent by noon. Everyone in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir is interested in who will win in Haryana between BJP and Congress. If Congress comes to power as per the exit poll results, the situation will also become clear about which direction the new politics of Congress is heading.

Jammu Kashmir Assembly Vote Counting

The counting of votes for 90 assembly seats in Jammu and Kashmir will begin at 8 am after 10 years. The results of this election will pave the way for the formation of the first elected government in the Union Territory after the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. The main contestants in this assembly election are the Congress-National Conference (NC) alliance, the People's Democratic Party (PDP),, and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The election is being held five years after the erstwhile state was divided into the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. According to Election Commission officials, a three-tier security system has been put in place at all counting centers to ensure that everything remains fine in the border union territory. Security personnel have taken charge and are guarding all the centers in the Kashmir Valley and Jammu region. For the first time since 2014, assembly elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir in three phases. Out of the 90 seats in the Kashmir Valley and Jammu region, voting took place on 24 seats in the first phase, 26 in the second phase, and 40 in the third phase.

63.45 percent in Jammu

The fate of 873 candidates contesting for the 90-member assembly of the Union Territory will be decided by this evening. This time the voting percentage was 63.45 percent, which is less than the 65.52 percent recorded in the 2014 assembly elections. The major candidates contesting the elections include National Conference leader Omar Abdullah (contesting from two assembly constituencies, Budgam and Ganderbal), People's Conference's Sajjad Gani Lone (from Handwara and Kupwara seats), State Congress Committee President Tariq Hamid Karra (Batmalu) and BJP State President Ravinder Raina (Nowshera seat). The exit polls released on Saturday have shown the NC-Congress alliance gaining an edge and regional parties are also expected to get some seats.

BJP claims victory in Haryana

Meanwhile, Haryana's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is confident that it will be able to retain power for the third consecutive term. However, the opposition party Congress, buoyed by the exit poll predictions after the voting, also hopes to return to power after 10 years. The assembly elections in Haryana are the first major direct contest between the BJP and the Congress after the Lok Sabha elections. The result of this election will be used by the winner to create an atmosphere in his favor in other states, where elections are due in the next few months.

competition between these parties

The main parties in this election are BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD)-Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Jannayak Janata Party (JJP)-Azad Samaj Party (ASP). There is a possibility of a direct contest between BJP and Congress on most seats. Voting took place in Jammu and Kashmir along with Haryana, but there is a possibility of a multi-cornered contest on most seats instead of a direct contest between Congress and BJP.

A total of 1,031 candidates, including 464 independents and 101 women, are in the fray for the 90 seats in Haryana. Voting for these seats was held in a single phase on October 5. Several exit polls have predicted a Congress victory in Haryana, where 67.90 percent voting took place. Rejecting the exit poll results, Haryana Chief Minister Naib Singh Saini has claimed that his party BJP will form the government for the third time with an absolute majority on October 8. He said that when the results are declared on October 8, the Congress will blame the electronic voting machines.

Congress is confident of getting an absolute majority.

On the other hand, Congress leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has expressed confidence in getting an absolute majority. Hooda is considered to be the front-runner for the chief minister's post if the Congress wins. On BJP leaders' claim that their party will return to power, Hooda had earlier said, "What else will the BJP say? They will know after the results are out." The INLD-BSP alliance has also claimed that it will form the next government after the results are announced, while JJP leader Dushyant Chautala has expressed confidence that his alliance will win. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, who is contesting the elections on his own in Haryana, has been claiming that no government can be formed in Haryana without his party's support.

These are high profile seats.

The major candidates contesting the election are Chief Minister Saini (Ladwa), Leader of Opposition Hooda (Garhi Sampla-Kiloi), INLD's Abhay Chautala (Ellenabad), JJP's Dushyant Chautala (Uchana Kalan), BJP's Anil Vij (Ambala Cantt), Captain Abhimanyu (Narnaund), O P Dhankar (Badli), AAP's Anurag Dhanda (Kalayat) and Congress' Vinesh Phogat (Julana).

Former MP and BJP leaders Shruti Chaudhary and Anirudh Chaudhary are contesting from the Tosham seat. Both are cousins. From Dabwali, Devi Lal's grandson and INLD candidate Aditya Devi Lal is pitted against JJP's Digvijay Singh Chautala, the former deputy prime minister's great-grandson. The BJP has fielded Bhavya Bishnoi, grandson of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, from Adampur assembly constituency in Hisar, while Arti Rao, whose father Rao Inderjit Singh is a Union minister, has been fielded from Ateli in Mahendragarh. Independent candidates include Savitri Jindal (Hisar), Ranjit Chautala (Ra,nia), and Chitra Sarwara (Ambala Cantt). Congress' Brijendra Singh, son of former Union minister Birender Singh, is in the fray against Dushyant from Uchana.

Some rebels from both the Congress and the BJP have also entered the fray. The ruling BJP has 41 members in the outgoing assembly (including the Adampur seat won in the 2022 by-election), the Congress has 28, the JJP has six, while the Haryana Lokhit Party and the INLD have one member each. There are four independents, while nine seats are vacant.

In 2019, the BJP formed the government with the support of. the JJP

Seven of the nine seats fell vacant as their representatives resigned after switching sides, while the Badshahpur seat fell vacant following the death of independent MLA Rakesh Daulatabad in May. The Mullana seat fell vacant after Congress' Varun Chaudhary won the Ambala Lok Sabha seat. In 2019, the BJP formed the government with the support of the JJP, while most of the independent MLAs also supported it. However, the JJP's alliance with the BJP ended after Nayab Singh Saini replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as the chief minister in March this year.