Chandigarh: The BJP is inching towards a hat-trick in Haryana with the party leading in the majority of the seats in the 90-member Assembly for which votes are being counted on Tuesday.
The polling was held on October 5.
The BJP, which has been in power in the state since 2014, has already won five seats besides being in the lead in 43 more, and if the trend holds, it could end up with 48 seats, two more than the magic figure required to form a government.
According to the Election Commission data at 3 pm, the Congress has bagged 10 seats and is currently occupying the pole position in 26 more, and could finish with around 36 seats.
Union Minister and BJP President JP Nadda has dialledChief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and congratulated him on the party's performance that at the moment seems to be defying the exit poll predictions of a Congress triumph
It should be noted that Saini took oath as the state Chief Minister on March 12 replacing Manohar Lal Khattar after the BJP central leadership decided to go for a change of guard to fight off anti-incumbency. Before the launch of the 2024 Assembly poll campaign, BJP had announced that Saini would be the CM face. Saini was also leading by over 16,000 votes in his Assembly constituency Ladwa over the Congress rival.
For the Congress, Aditya Surjewala, son of senior leader Randeep Singh Surjewala, defeated BJP veteran Leela Ram from Kaithal by 7,000 votes.
Another Congress star candidate wrestler Vinesh Phogat beat BJP candidate Capatain Yogesh Kumar by a6,015 votes in the Julana assembly seat.
On the other hand, BJP's Krishan Lal Middha won in Jind and Congress' Aftab Ahmed triumphed in Nuh.
Meanwhile, the Congress has moved the Election Commission of India over the alleged discrepancy in the uploading of the counting data.
The Haryana Assembly polls Saturday recorded a voter turnout of 67.90 percent. A total of 1,031 candidates, including 464 independents and 101 women, competed in the high-stakes election.