Results for Maharashtra and Haryana elections would be out on Thursday with a host of exit polls predicting the BJP retaining both the States. But India Today’s latest exit poll has injected some interest in the counting by claiming that Haryana may see a hung Assembly.
Counting for the votes would begin in the morning and a clear trend would be available by Thursday afternoon for the 288 seats in Maharashtra and 90 seats in Haryana.
The BJP hopes that Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Manohar Lal Khattar would for the second-time head the Government in Maharashtra and Haryana respectively. The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is pitted against the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra, while the Congress is the main rival of the BJP in Haryana. The INLD has split on account of family feud among the Chautalas.
Khattar is a non-jat leader, who for the first time headed a majority BJP Government in Haryana. Fadnavis also became the first Brahimn and non-Maratha CM in Maharashtra.
The Assembly polls, five months after BJP’s stupendous victory in the Lok Sabha elections, would also indicate whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the main campaign mascot for the party, continues to be the run-machine for his party.