The exit polls have predicted a thumping majority for Congress in Haryana, after a decade. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is projected to trail significantly. According to the exit polls the  regional parties will have considerable losses. With this, the political landscape of Haryana is set for a dramatic shift. The voter turnout was 61.19 percent till 8 pm on Saturday. The results will be declared on October 8.

The Dainik Bhaskar poll predicted the Congress getting 44-54 seats and the BJP 15-29 seats in the 90-member Haryana Assembly. The Republic-Matrize poll put the Congress tally even higher at 55-62 seats as against the BJP’s 18-24. 

According to NDTV’s Poll of Polls, 55-62 seats are predicted for the Congress while the ruling BJP may win 20-32 seats. The Red Mike-Datansh exit poll gave the Congress 50-55 seats in Haryana and the BJP at 20-25, while the Dhruv Research poll pegged the Congress at 50-64 seats, BJP 22-32 seats, and others 3-8 seats. Peoples’ Pulse exit poll gave the Congress 49-60 seats and the BJP 20-32 seats in Haryana.

Most exit polls pegged the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) tally higher than that of the  Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), while others were seen getting up to 10 seats. The ruling BJP is eyeing a hat-trick while the Congress is hoping to make a comeback in the state after a decade.

The other key contestants are Congress, JJP, INLD, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), INLD, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Azad Samaj Party (ASP). Key candidates include Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, BJP leaders Anil Vij and OP Dhankar, Congress leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Vinesh Phogat, INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala, and JJP’s Dushyant Chautala.

The BJP’s campaign was spearheaded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who addressed four rallies, where he attacked the Congress on several issues and said they kept every matter important for the country entangled, including the Ram temple issue. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also addressed many public meetings where he said a “Congress storm” is on its way in Haryana and his party would form the government, which will be one for the poor and farmers, and a “mohabbat ki dukan” will be opened in every corner of the state.

In the 2019 Assembly elections, the BJP won 40 of the 90 seats, forming a coalition government with the JJP, which won 10 seats. The Congress secured 31 seats. However, JJP later broke out of the coalition. Manohar Lal Khattar served as the Chief Minister of Haryana for around 9.5 years. He was succeeded by Nayab Singh Saini in March this year.

The single phase polling for 90 Assembly Constituencies in Haryana concluded largely peacefully, in more than 20,000 polling stations set up in the state, except for stray incidents of minor scuffles and stone-pelting were reported from Haryana’s Nuh district.

The Election Commission has seized cash, drugs and liquor worth Rs. 75.72 crores in Haryana in the run up to the polls. This is four times more than the seizures worth Rs 19.3 crore, reported in 2019. Seizures have been made across all districts & cohorts, which includes Rs. 31.5 crore cash, Rs. 16.6 crore worth of liquor and 11.13 crore drugs. Ambala (Rs 11.82 crores), Faridabad (Rs 10.07 crores) and Gurugram (Rs 9.94 crores) remained the top 3 districts in terms of seizures.

Mewar recorded voter turnout of 68.28 percent, followed by Yamunanagar 67.93 percent and Palwal (67.69 percent). Gurugram and Faridabad recorded lowest voter turnout of 49.97 percent and 51.90 percent respectively.

Interestingly, BJP leader and Kurukshetra MP Naveen Jindal arrived at a polling station in Kurukshetra on a horse to cast his vote, while a groom delayed his wedding to cast his vote, and Olympians proudly flaunted their inked fingers.

“Riding a horse is considered auspicious... People ride horses while going to attend weddings. That is why I came on a horse for his auspicious work,” Jindal told reporters after casting his vote. On his mother Savitri Jindal contesting the polls as an Independent from Hisar, Jindal told reporters people made her contest the elections and they were quite enthusiastic about her candidature.

The EC bringing polling booths into high-rise apartment complexes was a hit among their residents who would earlier “think twice about taking out time for voting”. The voters residing in many high-rise apartment complexes especially in the NCR cities of Gurugram and Faridabad said they found it convenient to cast their votes as polling stations were set up in several such residential buildings.

The Commission set up polling stations on the premises of several high-rise building premises in order to increase polling percentage and reduce congestion at polling centres. In the millennium city alone, the Commission set up 126 polling stations in high-rise buildings. Among them, nine were located in the Pataudi constituency, 71 in Badshahpur, 42 in Gurugram and four in Sohna.