In the Assembly election results announced on Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power for a third successive time in Haryana, securing its best ever vote share and seats tally and defied dire predictions that it was on course for an ignominious defeat because of perceived anger among farmers and youths in the state.
In Jammu and Kashmir, where Assembly elections were held after a decade, and for the first time since the reading down of Article 370, the BJP turned in its best ever performance in terms of seats won and vote share secured. But it was the rival National Conference that emerged the single-largest party, helping its pre-poll alliance, comprising the Congress and Communist Party of India (Marxist), surpass the majority mark.
While the National Conference’s Omar Abdullah is set to become chief minister of J&K with his father, Farooq Abdullah, having retired from active politics, Prime Minister Narendra Modi indicated the BJP would continue with Nayab Singh Saini as chief minister in Haryana.
In his first remarks after the win, Omar sought to build bridges with the Centre. He said J&K would not benefit from an “antagonistic relationship” with the Centre and hoped the Prime Minister would live up to his promise to the people of J&K of restoring its statehood.
In Haryana, Saini was the bright spot in the BJP’s victory as he won his seat with a healthy margin but eight ministers and the Speaker of the Assembly lost. Only two ministers won while four others had been denied the party ticket.
In his victory speech at the BJP’s national headquarters in the evening, the PM said his party’s win in Haryana would reverberate far and wide. Assembly polls are due in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, and Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders, including that of the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), asserted that the Haryana results would not affect their respective parties’ prospects in the western state.
The Haryana win is also special for the BJP because it had suffered losses in the state in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, winning five of the 10 seats, and losing significant vote share, with the state’s Scheduled Castes (SCs) turning against it. However, the Assembly poll results indicated the BJP managed to repair its social coalition in Haryana, comprising the upper castes, Punjabis, Other Backward Classes, and SCs in the last four months.
The BJP performed creditably across the state, especially in its urban areas, securing 48 seats and 39.94 per cent vote share, bettering its 2014 showing of 47 seats and the 2019 vote share of 36.49 per cent. While a counter-Jat consolidation helped the party win, it scored wins in seats where the agrarian community is dominant. The new BJP government’s challenge would be to fulfil some of its ambitious promises, such as providing jobs, a monthly allowance of Rs 2,100 to women, and minimum support price on 24 crops.
The Congress, whose Haryana campaign was spearheaded by former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, doubted the election results. Alleging a conspiracy, it said in Haryana “democracy had lost and establishment had won”. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said the results of Haryana were unexpected and the party was assessing the public mandate.
That infighting plagued the Congress campaign was evident with its Sirsa MP Kumari Selja demanding accountability for the loss. “It will not be business as usual in Haryana and I am sure the Congress high command would identify those who negated the efforts to bring the party to power after 10 years,” she said. A prominent SC leader, Selja had felt slighted during the election campaign. Of the 17 seats reserved for SCs in Haryana, the Congress won nine and BJP eight. In the 2019 Assembly polls, the BJP had won only five of these reserved seats, down from nine in 2014.
The Haryana polls also witnessed the continuing decline of the Indian National Lok Dal and Jannayak Janta Party. For the Congress, it was another loss to the BJP in a direct contest, with Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal reminding the Congress that it was a result of “overconfidence”. The Congress and AAP had failed to repeat their seat-sharing alliance for the Assembly polls on the lines of the one the two had in the Lok Sabha polls.
After its losses in December 2023 to the BJP in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh, the Congress has lost yet another election where it was in a direct contest with the Hindutva party, bringing back focus on its regional satraps failing to deliver electoral successes. Modi, in his speech, described the Congress as a “parasitic party”, which had won seats in the Lok Sabha polls thanks to its allies. He said the Congress ended up denting the prospects of its allies, as happened in Jammu and Kashmir. He congratulated the people of J&K on reposing their faith in the Constitution, and promised to work for the “four pillars” of the country: Farmers, women, the poor, and youths.
First Published: Oct 08 2024 | 11:53 PM IST
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