New Delhi:

Political parties and leaders wait with bated breath for the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir assembly poll results today. Officials said all preparations, including security arrangements, have been completed for the counting process which begins at 8 am.

While 93 counting centres have been set up across 90 assembly constituencies in 22 districts of Haryana, heavy security arrangements have been put in place at all 20 counting centres and district headquarters across Jammu and Kashmir for the vote count in Jammu and Kashmir. The election results in Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana will come days after the exit polls predicted a comeback for the Congress in the heartland state and a hung house in the union territory.

Haryana

The elections in Haryana are the first major direct contest between the BJP and the Congress following the Lok Sabha polls, and the result here would be used by the winner to build a narrative in their favour in other states where polls are due over the next few months.

The key parties in the fray are the BJP, the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, INLD-BSP and the JJP-Azad Samaj Party. However, most seats are likely to see a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress.

A total of 1,031 candidates, including 464 Independents and 101 women, are in the fray on Haryana’s 90 constituencies which voted in a single phase on October 5.

Prominent among those in the fray are Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini (Ladwa), Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda (Garhi Sampla-Kiloi), INLD’s Abhay Chautala (Ellenabad), JJP’s Dushyant Chautala (Uchana Kalan), BJP’s Anil Vij (Ambala Cantt), Capt Abhimanyu (Narnaund), O P Dhankar (Badli), AAP’s Anurag Dhanda (Kalayat) and Congress’ Vinesh Phogat (Julana).

A few rebels from both Congress and BJP have also entered the contest.

In 2019, the BJP formed the government with the support of JJP while most Independents also extended support. However, JJP’s post-poll tie-up with the BJP ended after the saffron party replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as chief minister in March this year.

Jammu And Kashmir

The counting of votes in Jammu and Kashmir will be special as the union territory will get its first elected government since 2019 when Article 370 was abrogated.

However, on the eve of the results, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha’s power to nominate five members to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly was at the centre of a political and legal debate, with the Congress and regional parties National Conference and PDP on opposing any such move during government formation.

The Congress, its ally National Conference (NC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have also threatened to approach the Supreme Court.

In the mega battle of alliances, the addition of the five nominated members would take the House strength to 95, and the majority mark to 48. These members, who could be potentially advantageous to the BJP, will have the same powers and voting rights as other MLAs.

Meanwhile, top leaders of the Congress-NC alliance, the BJP and the PDP have expressed confidence in forming the next government in the union territory.

While the Congress and the National Conference, who formed a pre-poll alliance, claimed they would cross the magical figure of 46 in the 90-member House on their own, the BJP was relying on independent candidates and the PDP said no secular government was possible in Jammu and Kashmir without its support.

Meanwhile, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti has asserted that the next government in Jammu and Kashmir will be secular and not without her party’s support.

The first assembly election in Jammu and Kashmir – to decide the fate of 873 candidates – since 2014 was held over three phases with 24 seats going to polls in the first phase on September 18. The second phase of polling was held on September 18 in which 26 seats went to polls while the polling for the remaining 40 seats was held on October 1.