New Delhi: As the announcement of Assembly election results for Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana approaches, political parties and leaders express growing confidence and optimism about their chances of victory.
Election officials, along with political party representatives, will gather at counting centres by 5 am on Tuesday, with the counting of votes for the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections set to commence at 8 am.
The counting will begin with postal ballot votes cast by specific groups, including differently-abled citizens, security personnel, and certain government employees providing essential services. Early trends are expected to emerge by noon following the initial rounds of counting.
In Haryana, the ruling BJP is confident in its ability to retain power for a third term, while the Congress, which has been out of power for ten years, remains hopeful for a comeback when the results are announced.
Officials have confirmed that all preparations, including security arrangements, are complete for the counting process. “A three-tier security arrangement has been established at counting venues,” Haryana's Chief Electoral Officer, Pankaj Agarwal, informed PTI on Monday.
These elections represent the first significant direct contest between the BJP and Congress since the Lok Sabha polls, and the results will provide crucial narratives for the winning party as they prepare for upcoming elections in other states over the next few months.
The main parties in the fray are the BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), INLD-BSP, and JJP-Azad Samaj Party, with most seats anticipated to see direct competition between the BJP and Congress.
In Jammu and Kashmir, elections coincide with those in Haryana; however, most seats have witnessed multi-cornered contests rather than direct competition between Congress and BJP. Elections are also scheduled in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Delhi in the coming months.
A total of 1,031 candidates, including 464 Independents and 101 women, are contesting across Haryana's 90 constituencies, which voted in a single phase on October 5. Several exit polls predict a Congress victory in Haryana, which recorded a voter turnout of 67.90%.
Jammu and Kashmir is holding elections after a decade-long gap, following the bifurcation of the state into two union territories—Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh—in 2019.
The first phase of elections on September 18 recorded a voter turnout of 61.38%, while the second phase on September 25 saw a turnout of 57.31%. Among the prominent candidates in this phase are Raman Bhalla (R S Pura), Usman Majid (Bandipora), Nazir Ahmad Khan (Gurez), Taj Mohiuddin (Uri), Basharat Bukhari (Wagoora-Kreeri), Imran Ansari (Pattan), Ghulam Hassan Mir (Gulmarg), Choudhary Lal Singh (Basohli), Rajiv Jasrotia (Jasrota), Manohar Lal Sharma (Billawar), Sham Lal Sharma, and Ajay Kumar Sadhotra (Jammu North).