BJP retains Haryana, Congress-NC to form government in J&K
Reversing exit poll predictions, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has emerged the winner once again in the Haryana Assembly election. This will be the third time the BJP will be forming the government in the state. The saffron party won 48 of the 90 assembly seats. In Jammu and Kashmir, the National Conference-Congress alliance swam swiftly to the winning side, with the NC getting 42 seats and the Congress six seats.
AAP opens account in J&K
Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had high expectations of establishing a presence in Haryana as a result of its victories in neighboring Delhi and Punjab, failed to win a single seat. It, however, managed to win the Doda seat in J&K. In Haryana, Nayab Singh Saini, who replaced Manohar Lal Khattar as CM just five months before the polls, is expected to remain the chief minister. As for J&K, Omar Abdullah will become the CM, Farooq Abdullah announced.
J&K's 1st election in a decade
The election in Jammu and Kashmir was the first since 2014, and also the first after the abrogation of Article 370. The state's special status under the Constitution was revoked and it was bifurcated into two Union Territories in 2019. While the Delimitation Commission's decision to increase Jammu region's seats to 43 against Kashmir's 47 has leveled the playing field for BJP, opposition parties argue this could give an unfair advantage to BJP.
BJP has never ruled J&K on its own
The Election Commission of India data shows that most of the seats won by the BJP in J&K are from Jammu, while Kashmir appears to have voted overwhelmingly for the NC. Among the winners are Omar Abdullah from Ganderbal, Kharsheed Ahmad Shiekh from Langate, Mir Mohammad Fayaz from Kupwara, Sajad Gani Lone from Handwara, Waheed Ur Rehman Para from Pulwama, and Shagun Parihar from Kishtwar seats, among others. The BJP has never ruled J&K on its own.
