India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) climbed into the lead in elections in the northern state of Haryana on Tuesday, reversing early trends when it was trailing the main opposition Congress party, TV broadcasters said.
Phased elections in Haryana and the disputed Himalayan region of occupied Jammu and Kashmir concluded on Saturday. This was the first public test since Narendra Modi became prime minister for a record-breaking third time in a row.
According to exit surveys, the main opposition Congress party was expected to win in Haryana, giving Congress and its regional ally, the National Conference (NC), an advantage.
Each of the two legislatures has ninety seats.
According to TV channel CNN-News18, the counting revealed that the Congress was ahead in 33 seats while the BJP was leading in 51 seats in Haryana, where it has been in power for ten years.
The Congress-NC coalition led in 49 seats while the BJP led in 27 in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, which saw its first provincial election in ten years and the first since it was divided into two federally administered regions in 2019.
After failing to gain an absolute majority in the national elections, and as it gets closer to provincial elections in the more politically consequential states of Maharashtra and Jharkhand, a victory in Haryana would be a boost for the BJP.
A BJP coalition currently controls the industrial centre of Maharashtra, but in mineral-rich Jharkhand, an opposition combination is in charge.
Although they have not yet been declared, elections are anticipated to take place in November in both states.
Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress and the scion of a dynasty that produced three prime ministers for India, will receive a huge lift from the party’s victory in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Gandhi has been held accountable for the party’s decline since Modi took office in 2014.
Gandhi leads the opposition in the lower house of parliament and was the face of the coalition of twelve opposition parties that prevented Modi from winning an absolute majority in the legislative election.
