Haryana assembly elections live: BJP and Congress in close race, with 36 and 35 seats each

5:40 pm Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar retained his Karnal seat defeating his nearest Congress rival Tarlochan Singh.

5:33 pm The vote share of the ruling BJP fell by a massive 22 per cent in the Haryana Assembly polls, after the party secured over 58 per cent votes in the state in the Lok Sabha polls held in April-May and won all the 10 seats.

5:14 Pm BJP candidate and former Indian hockey captain Sandeep Singh won from Pehowa seat in Kurukshetra district. He defeated Congress candidate Mandeep Singh Chathha by a margin of 5,314 votes.

5:09 Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) candidate Gopal Kanda defeated his nearest rival Gokul Setia, an Independent, by a slender margin of 602 votes from Sirsa.

5:05 Pm Former Haryana Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda defeated ruling BJP candidate Satish Nandal by 58,312 votes from his stronghold Garhi Sampla-Kiloi in Rohtak district.

4:40 pm  The BJP has won 17 seats and is leading in 22, the Congress has won in 13 seats and is leading in 19.

3:15 pm: Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij wins the Ambala Cantonment seat defeating his nearest rival Chitra Sarwara, an Independent candidate.

Senior Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi defeated BJP candidate and TikTok star Sonali Phogat from his stronghold Adampur assembly constituency in Haryana’s Hisar district.

2:30 pm: The BJP is leading in 37 seats, the Congress in 34 seats.

2:24 pm: Dushyant Chautala remains non-committal on supporting either the BJP or the Congress in forming a government in case of a hung assembly. Early counting trends indicated that neither both parties will be able to form the government on their own.

The JJP was ahead in at least 10 seats, according to the trends, placing the party leader Dushyant Chautala in the kingmaker’s role. "This shows there was huge anti-incumbency against the (M L) Khattar government," Chautala commented.

"It is too early to say anything. We will first summon a meeting of our MLAs, decide who would be our leader in the House and then take it further," he told reporters, but he added, “People of Haryana want change.”

1:50 pm: The results for the state's assembly election are still too close to call. The BJP and Congress have 36 and 35 seats respectively.

1: 15 pm: Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will reach Delhi later today and hold meetings with Congress president Sonia Gandhi and top party leaders to strategise on forming the government in the state, sources said. Gandhi has already spoken with Hooda and given him the go-ahead to work towards forming the government, they said.

Hectic political parleys are on with the BJP and the Congress locked in a tough contest on Thursday. There were no clear winners in the 90-member assembly, according to the latest trends.

1:00 pm: The race for Haryana seems too close to call, with BJP was leading in 38 of the 90 seats and the Congress in 32.Dushyant Chautala could well emerge kingmaker with his Jannayak Janta Party leading in 10 seats.

The INLD was leading in two, Independents in six and the BSP in one.

Taking a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “Mission 75”, Chautala said it would fall way short of its target of winning 75 seats. Declaring that his party will hold the key to formation of the next dispensation, he told reporters, “People of Haryana want change.”

Asked which party the JJP would support, he said, “It’s too early to say anything. We will first summon a meeting of our MLAs, decide who would be our leader in the House and then take it further.”

The people of Haryana had rejected the ruling BJP and was ready to “embrace a new dawn of justice”, state Congress chief Kumari Selja said. “Haryana has given the verdict- it will not tolerate @BJP4Haryana’s misgovernance any more. Choosing to leave behind the maladies inflicted on its people in last 5years,the state is ready to embrace a new dawn of justice & equality under the leadership of @INCHaryana,” Selja tweeted.

Both Khattar and his predecessor Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress were among those who were leading from Karnal and Garhi Sampla-Kiloi respectively, according to early trends.

In what appears to be a setback for the BJP, seven of its ministers, assembly Speaker and state party chief are trailing.

In 2014, the BJP won 47 seats and the Congress 15, with two Haryana Janhit Congress legislators later merging with it. The INLD had 19 seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal one each. There were five Independents.

12:00 am: Seven Haryana ministers and the state BJP chief are trailing in the election. Haryana Assembly Speaker Kanwar Pal, a BJP legislator from Jagadhri, is also trailing in his constituency behind Congress’ Akram Khan by a margin of 5,889 votes.

Ram Bilas Sharma, a five-time legislator, is trailing by a slim margin of 329 votes against Congress’ Rao Dan Singh.

Capt Abhimanyu, sitting MLA from Narnaund, was trailing by a margin of 9,956 behind JJP’s Ram Kumar Gautam.

State BJP chief Subhash Barala was trailing by a margin of 10,383 behind Jannayak Janta Party’s Devender Singh Babli from Tohana seat.

Kavita Jain, Manish Grover, Karan Dev Kamboj and Krishan Lal Panwar are other ministers who are currently trailing. However, senior minister and five-time legislator, Anil Vij was leading in his Ambala Cantt seat by a margin of 3,569 votes over Independent candidate Chitra Sarwra

11:50 am: No party seemed to be heading for a clear majority in the state. The BJP was leading in 40 seats and the Congress in 30. In an electoral contest with no clear winner, Dushyant Chautala could well emerge kingmaker with his Jannayak Janta Party leading in 10 seats. Trends were available for 89 of the 90 seats.

Source: ECI website

Taking a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party’s “Mission 75”, Chautala said it would fall way short of its target of winning 75 seats.

Declaring that his party will hold the key to formation of the next dispensation, he told reporters, “People of Haryana want change.”

Both Khattar and his predecessor Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress were among those who were leading from Karnal and Garhi Sampla-Kiloi respectively, according to early trends.

In 2014, the BJP won 47 seats and the Congress 15, with two Haryana Janhit Congress legislators later merging with it. The INLD had 19 seats and the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Shiromani Akali Dal one each. There were five Independents.

11: 05 am: Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala was trailing in Kaithal. BJP’s Leela Ram is leading by a margin of 2,423 votes in the constituency. Surjewala is seeking re-election from Kaithal constituency.

Randeep Singh Surjewala

The Congress leader had lost the Jind bypolls, which were held earlier this year.

10:58 am: Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi is leading over BJP’s Sonali Phogat, a Tik Tok star, from his stronghold Adampur.

Bishnoi, younger son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, had attained a comfortable lead of over 10,000 votes over Phogat, contesting her first election.

Bishnoi’s elder brother Chander Mohan, also a Congress candidate, had a slender margin of 29 votes over BJP’s sitting MLA Gian Chand Gupta from Panchkula constituency, as per trends made available by the Election Commission.

From Ellenabad, INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala was leading over his nearest BJP rival Pawan Beniwal by a margin 1,983 votes.

Wrestler-turned-politician Yogeshwar Dutt of the BJP was leading by a slender margin of 430 votes over Congress’ Sri Krishan Hooda from Baroda constituency in Sonipat.

10:46 am: The newly formed Jannayak Janta Party (JJP), led by former INLD MP Dushyant Chautala, is emerging as kingmakers after the completion of four rounds of counting.

The BJP is facing a setback in the State as it is leading in only 37 seats out of 90 seats in the Assembly. The Congress is leading in 31 seats. JJP, that outsmarted its parent party INLD, is leading in 12 seats while the INLD is leading in only three seats.

JJP supremo Dushyant Chautala told reporters that his party will support whichever party that will make him Chief Minister. The JJP expects to improve its talky to at least 15 seats when the final round is complete. The Congress is also trying to reach out to Chautala, who has been targeting the BJP throughout during his campaign. To keep the BJP at bay, sources indicate that the party may even offer chief ministership to Chautala like the party did in Karnataka.

10:15 am: Haryana Finance Minister Captain Abhimanyu was trailing from his Narnaund constituency in Hisar district to Jannnayak Janta Party candidate, as per early trends.

JJP’s Ram Kumar Gautam, who is a former BJP MLA, was leading from Narnaund by a margin of 1,828 votes over Abhimanyu, as per early trends made available by the Election Commission.

From Samalkha segment, Dharam Singh Chhoker of the Congress was leading over his nearest rival Shashi Kant Kaushik of the BJP by a margin of 4,461 votes. From Gharaunda, BJP’s Harvinder Kalyan was leading over Congress’ Anil Kumar by a margin of 724 votes, as per early trends

9:45 am: Congress candidate and ex-BCCI chief Ranbir Singh Mahendra is trailing behind JJP’s Naina Chautala in the Badhra constituency. Naina Chautala is leading by a margin of 1,190 votes.

Former hockey captain and BJP candidate Sandeep Singh was ahead in the Pehowa constituency. He is leading by a margin of 881 votes.

From Panipat City, Parmod Kumar Vij of the BJP was leading over Congress candidate Sanjay Aggarwal by a margin of 4,422 votes while Mohd Illyas of Congress was ahead from Punhana over Rahish Khan, an Independent, by a margin of 586 votes.

9:30 am: Haryana results are likely to give an interesting picture as trends show that the BJP may fail to retain its current tally of 47 seats in the 90-member Assembly.

The Congress, principal opposition party, has improved its position, while the newly formed JJP, the splinter group of INLD, is likely to become the kingmakers. 

Initially, the BJP was leading in 41 seats. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is leading, but many senior leaders and ministers were trailing in the initial round of counting. 

The Congress, on the other hand, was leading in 32 seats, 15 more than the last election. Bhupinder Hooda, is leading.

JJP, the new party headed by Dushyant Chutala, is leading in eight seats. Chutala himself is leading in the Uchana Kala seat. The INLD was leading in two seats.

8:50 am: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his predecessor Bhupinder Singh Hooda of the Congress are among those who were leading from their respective constituencies, as per the early trends available.

Khattar, a first-time MLA, is seeking re-election from Karnal, while Hooda is seeking re-election from his stronghold Garhi Sampla-Kiloi in Rohtak district.

Haryana minister Anil Vij, a five-time legislator from Ambala Cantonment, is aslo leading from his constituency in early trends.

8:15 am: Counting of votes for the Haryana assembly election began on Thursday, with the BJP looking to retain power and its hopes buoyed by exit polls that indicated an easy victory.

A counting centre has been set up in each of the 90 assembly constituencies and there is an additional centre in Gurgaon’s Badshahpur segment, which had a larger number of polling booths.

While most exit polls projected a comfortable victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party, one predicted a close fight between the BJP and Congress with the Jannayak Janta Party likely to play kingmaker. In the state, the average voting percentage was nearly 65 per cent. Exit polls see that the party will 70/90 seats.

Read the exit poll results here