Counting for Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana Assembly elections 2024 is underway, with early trends showing a tight fight in the latter and the Congress-National Conference (NC) comfortably leading in J&K, where polls have taken place for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.
The counting of votes began at 8 am at 28 counting centres for the 90 seats of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly which went to polls in three phases - September 18, September 25, and October 1. In Haryana, where voting took place on October 5, counting was taking place across 93 in 22 districts.
Assembly Elections Counting Early Trends
NC-Congress Ahead In J&K: At around 10 am, the National Conference-Congress alliance had crossed the majority mark and took lead on 50 seats in Jammu and Kashmir, while the BJP was leading over 20 seats as per initial trends.
PDP In Single Digits In J&K: Trends across sources showed that the PDP was ahead in two seats in the Union territory while the Independents were leading on over 10 seats in Jammu and Kashmir.
J&K Key Candidates: Prominent among those leading are National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah, Pradesh Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra, AICC general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir and CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami and BJP’s former minister Sham Lal Sharma.
Haryana Early Trends | Tight Fight On: In Haryana, some reports initially showed the Congress past the majority mark of 46 in the 90-member assembly, but tables turned as BJP later crossed the majority mark in early trends. While the tight fight between BJP and Congress was underway at the time of last update in this report at 10 am, the actual situation would become clear as more votes are counted.
J&K Exit Polls: The exit polls, which came out on Saturday, have predicted pole position for the National Conference-Congress alliance, with the regional party getting the lion's share of the seats. As per pollsters, the BJP is expected to slightly improve on its tally of 25 seats which it had won in the 2014 assembly polls while the PDP, which had won 28 seats in the polls held 10 years ago, is predicted to win less than 10 seats this time.
Haryana Exit Polls: In Haryana, exit polls predict a return of Congress, which is expected to bag around 55 of the 90 seats alone. The BJP has been in power in Haryana since 2014 with Manohar Lal Khattar as chief minister for over nine years. The BJP's second term in office in 2019 was in alliance with the JJP, with Dushyant Singh Chautala as deputy chief minister.
