Election Results LIVE: BJP Heading Towards Hat-Trick In Haryana, NC-Congress Lead In J&K

“I will go to take the certificate and then offer prayers to Lord Krishna at Jyotisar temple. The 2.80 crore people of Haryana have chosen this government and we will move forward under the leadership of PM Modi,” he told reporters as the BJP looked set to retain the state for the third term.

“We have won 29 seats and we are expected to win more. We contested this election purely on the issue of development… We tried to rise above caste, creed, and religion and gave a new culture to this election,” he told reporters.

Three independent candidates have so far registered victory in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly polls. In Inderwal, Payare Lal Sharma defeated veteran leader Gulam Mohammad Saroori by a narrow margin of 643 votes, while in Bani, Rameshwar Singh won by 2,048 votes.

In the Surankote assembly seat, National Conference rebel Choudhary Mohammad Akram defeated Congress candidate Mohammad Shahnawaz with a margin of 8,851 votes.

Haryana Elections: Around 9 am, one hour after the counting of votes for Haryana Assembly polls began, the Congress had surged far ahead of the BJP. Jalebis were being distributed in the Congress headquarters in Delhi, dhols were out and the BJP office was deserted. 

But an hour later, the tables turned and the BJP was back in the game. Two more hours later, the BJP was firmly ahead and appeared headed for its biggest win in Haryana, defying exit poll predictions by a wide margin. Now the BJP headquarters was abuzz, with laddoos, jalebis and the works. Congress leaders hoped against hope for a turnaround in what had initially been a see-saw battle. Several rounds of counting are still left, but the picture is unlikely to change a lot.

Congress leader Randeep Surjewala’s son, Aditya Surjewala, won from Haryana’s Kaithal seat. The 25-year-old will be the youngest MLA in the Haryana assembly in 25 years.

Six ministers from Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini’s cabinet have failed to win in Haryana. Ranjit Chautala from Rania, Subhash Sudha from Thanesar, Dr Kamal Gupta from Hisar, Gyanchand Gupta from Panchkula, Kanwarpal Gurjar from Jagadhari and Sanjay Singh from Nuh, lost the election. 

The National Conference-Congress alliance looks set to form the next government in Jammu and Kashmir, which is seeing its first Assembly elections in 10 years, but the scale of the victory has also eclipsed smaller parties that made several headlines in the run-up to the polls. 

This year’s Assembly polls saw the re-entry of the banned Jamaat-e-Islami in the election process after decades of calling for their boycott and all eyes had been on how its candidates would perform. The interest was heightened after the Awami Ittehad Party of Engineer Rashid, who had defeated National Conference Vice-President and former chief minister Omar Abdullah in the Lok Sabha elections, entered into a “strategic alliance” with the Jamaat. 

Congress’s Bhupinder Hooda addressed the party workers and claimed that they are getting a majority in the state and alleged that the Election Commission is not updating the data on the site. The poll body has denied the allegations made by the party. 

BJP is leading on 50 seats in Haryana, while Congress is at 34. Counting of votes is still underway.

“I also congratulate the people of Jammu and Kashmir for voting for a stable government,” she said. 

Hours after the Congress raised with the Election Commission the issue of an “unexplained slowdown” in updating of results of Haryana elections on its website, the poll body said it rejects the party’s attempt to “surreptitiously give credence to irresponsible, unfounded and uncorroborated malafide narratives.”

National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah has won the Budgam assembly seat in Jammu and Kashmir, defeating the PDP’s Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi by a margin of more than 18,000 votes.

Mr Abdullah, who is also leading from the family bastion of Ganderbal, secured 36,010 votes in Budgam, while the PDP leader got 17,525 votes.

He had earlier lost the 2024 Parliamentary polls from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat. He was defeated by independent candidate Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid who was then lodged in the Tihar Jail under terror-funding charges.

Available leads show that the BJP is ahead in 19 seats and the NC-Congress is leading in 38.

“Omar Abdullah will become the next chief minister,” National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah announced today after strong showing in the J&K polls.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has congratulated Mehraj din Malik, the party candidate from the Doda seat in Jammu and Kashmir, for the “landslide victory”. 

“You fought a very good election. Congratulations to the entire Aam Aadmi Party on getting an MLA in the fifth state,” Mr Kejriwal posted on X.

Congress candidate and Olympic wrestler Vinesh Phogat has won from the Julana seat in Haryana. She secured more than 65,000 votes.

Congress candidate Aftab Ahmed has won from the Nuh constituency in Haryana. He received 91,833 votes and won the seat by nearly 47,000 votes.

Congress’ Vinesh Phogat, an Olympic wrestler, is currently ahead of her BJP rival Yogesh Kumar in Julana seat in Haryana’s Jind district by 5,231 votes. She has so far received 57,998 votes, while Mr Kumar has got 52,767.

National Conference’s Salman Sagar has won the Hazratbal assembly seat in Jammu and Kashmir. He polled over 18,000 votes and defeated his nearest rival, a PDP candidate, by 10,295 votes.

India’s richest woman, Savitri Jindal, who is contesting as an Independent from Haryana’s Hisar constituency after the BJP denied her ticket, is currently leading.  

The two-time MLA from Hisar and former Haryana minister has so far polled 21,113 votes and is leading her nearest rival and Congress’ Ram Niwas Rara by more than 7,300 votes. 

Kamal Gupta, the BJP nominee, has received 7,269 votes and is on the third spot.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who is contesting from the Ladwa seat in Kurukshetra, is leading by a margin of 10,562 votes over his Congress rival and sitting MLA Mewa Singh.

Congress has now complained to the Election Commission on the Haryana assembly results, alleging an “unexplained slowdown” in updating of trends on its website.

“Slowdown in updating results allows bad faith actors to spin narratives that undermine process,” Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said in a letter to the EC.

Congress’ Jairam Ramesh has alleged that there was a slowing down in uploading trends for the Haryana assembly polls on the Election Commission website.

In a post on X, he said, “Like the Lok Sabha elections, in Haryana we are again witnessing slowing down of uploading up-to-date trends on the ECI website.” 

“Is the BJP trying to build pressure on administration by sharing outdated and misleading trends @ECISVEEP?” Mr Ramesh said.

He later said he will lodge a complaint.

Responding to Mr Ramesh, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said that Congress has accepted its defeat.

“If Jairam Ramesh has already started saying this and pointing fingers at Election Commission, then we should understand that they have accepted their defeat… as per the trends going on, I feel that we are moving towards an important victory and Congress has started taking precautionary measures for their future defeat,” he told ANI.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address BJP workers at the party’s headquarters in Delhi. The BJP is currently eyeing a record third straight term in Haryana.

Former Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress president Vikar Rasool Wani is currently behind NC candidate Sajad Saheen in the Banihal assembly segment. While Mr Wani has got 15,010 votes, Mr Saheen has got 24,417 votes.

Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala is currently trailing Congress’ Bharat Singh Beniwal by a margin of 6,346 votes, the latest trends showed.

His son and INLD candidate Arjun Chautala is leading from the Rania seat over his grand uncle and Independent candidate Ranjit Chautala by 6,161 votes.

Speaking on the assembly election result trends, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said it is a “genuine surprise” to see the BJP leading in Haryana.

After leading in initial rounds of counting, Congress candidate Vinesh Phogat is now trailing from the Julana assembly seat in Haryana’s Jind district.

The wrestler is trailing by 3,641 votes to BJP’s Yogesh Kumar, who has so far received 19,218 votes.

After initially surging ahead in Haryana, the Congress has now fallen behind BJP. As per the latest trends, the BJP is leading in 46 seats, while the Congress is ahead in 37.

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is yet to start.

Early rounds of counting of votes in Jammu and Kashmir point to good news for the Congress and its ally National Conference.

While the NC is currently leading in 39 seats, the COngress is ahead in eight. The BJP, on the other hand, is leading in 28 seats, while its former ally PDP is ahead in four. 

JJP leader Dushyant Chautala is trailing from the Uchana Kalan assembly seat in Haryana. According to Election Commission of India trends, Mr Chautala, a former deputy chief minister of Haryana, has polled 1,624 votes and is currently at the sixth spot.

Congress’ Brijendra Singh is leading in Uchana Kalan by a margin of 1,188 votes from his nearest rival and BJP candidate Devender Chatar Bhuj Attri.

“The Congress is going to form the government on its own in Haryana. The trends suggest we will get the majority. The real credit goes to the people of Haryana,” says Bhupinder Hooda of the Congress.

“BJP has been in power for 10 years. It is natural to have fatigue, but there was BJP’s misrule. This was a big factor. The electorate looks at their future and they know their future is Congress. Rahul Gandhi’s yatra and his there guidance as well as the overarching factor that was guidance of leadership,” says Congress MP Kumari Selja. “I am among the contenders for chief minister but the final decision is of high command.”

Haryana Congress chief Udai Bhan is currently leading from the Hodal assembly seat in the state, the latest trends on the Election Commission website showed.

Mr Bhan was leading by a margin of 1,919 votes from his nearest rival and BJP’s Harinder Singh.

Congress candidate and Olympic wrestler Vinesh Phogat has now extended her lead to 214 from the Julana assembly seat in Haryana’s Jind district. 

She has so far received 214 votes as against her nearest rival and BJP candidate Yogesh Kumar’s 3,900.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is now leading by 840 votes from the Ladwa assembly seat against his nearest rival and Congress nominee Mewa Singh. According to the Election Commission, Mr Saini has so far polled 8,182 votes.

BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit president Ravinder Raina is currently trailing from the Nowshera seat.

According to early trends, Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhay Singh Chautala is ahead from his Ellenabad constituency.

Former Haryana Minister and senior BJP leader Anil Vij is currently trailing from his Ambala Cantt seat, according to early trends.

According to initial trends, the Congress-NC alliance has crossed the majority mark of 46 seats in Jammu and Kashmir and is currently leading on 48.

The BJP, on the other hand, is ahead on 26 seats.

According to initial trends available from 89 of the 90 seats in Haryana, Congress is leading on 53 seats — the majority mark is 46 –while the BJP was ahead on 30. The INLD was leading on three seats, while the AAP is yet to start.

Early trends show that  Congress leader and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is ahead of his rivals in Garhi Sampla-Kiloi constituency in Rohtak district.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is leading from his Ladwa seat in Kurukshetra district, early trends showed.

Early trends from the counting of votes show the Congress ahead in Haryana, and its alliance with National Conference leading in Jammu and Kashmir. 

“”We are hopeful of victory, rest is on God,” he said.

In Haryana, the Congress has extended its lead to 32 seats, while the BJP has dropped to 19, latest trends from the counting of votes show.

In J&K, BJP is ahead on 18 seats and Congress-NC alliance on 14.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the BJP is now leading on 18 seats, while the Congress-National Conference alliance is ahead on 13.

Early trends from the counting of votes show the Congress was ahead on 28 seats, and the BJP on 20 in Haryana.

In Jammu and Kashmir, which voted in three phases (September 18, September 25, and October 1) and also has 90 assembly constituencies, the early leads point to a close fight between the BJP and the alliance of Congress and the National Conference (NC).

Postal ballots will be counted first for the Haryana and J&K polls, followed by the counting of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) after 30 minutes.

“Exit polls say that we will win 60 seats (of the total 90 seats), but I say that we will win 70 seats, we will Kaithal seat too,” he told reporters.

The meeting comes in the backdrop of several exit polls showing that Congress may win in Haryana, and its alliance with National Conference may stay ahead in the race for Jammu and Kashmir.

Ahead of the counting of votes for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, NC leader Omar Abdullah wished his colleagues and allies the “very best of luck” for today. 

“We fought the good fight and now, InshaAllah, the results will reflect that,” he posted on X.

The Congress, its ally National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti’s Peoples’ Democratic Party have contended that providing such powers to the Lieutenant Governor is a subversion of the people’s mandate as it will be used to benefit the BJP.