Haryana election results: Early trends show Congress and BJP locked in a tight fight

Counting of votes is underway at a center for Haryana Assembly elections in Jind, Tuesday, October 8, 2024. | Photo credit: PTI

Amid the high-stakes election campaign for the 90-member Haryana Legislative Assembly, early election results/trends on Tuesday (October 8, 2024) showed the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and its main challenger, the Indian National Congress, locked in a Head-to-head battle.

Click here for live updates on Haryana Assembly election results

The ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), which has been in power in Haryana for a decade, appears to be leading with seats close to what it won in the 2019 assembly polls. The Congress party is hoping to improve its record since the last election, but so far appears to be falling short of the majority mark. In Haryana, 46 is the seat majority mark and any party or alliance needs these many seats to stake a claim to form the next government in the state.

According to the Election Commission results/trends, the BJP was leading in at least 41 constituencies as of 10:15 am. The Congress was leading with 34 seats, while the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) were leading in one seat each. Four independents also led the way.

Voting for 90 parliamentary constituencies in Haryana took place in a single phase on October 5, with Haryana recording a voter turnout of nearly 68%. A total of 1,031 candidates took part in the election campaign, including 101 women and 464 independents.

In the 2019 parliamentary polls, the BJP emerged as the largest single party, winning 40 seats, but was six seats short of forming the government on its own. The BJP and JJP, which had secured 10 seats in the polls, then joined hands to form an alliance government in the state. The Congress won 31 seats, the Haryana Lokhit Party and the INLD one each, as well as seven independents.

In 2019, the BJP's vote share was 36.49% while the Congress party got 28.08% of the votes.