Haryana elections: Bhupinder Hooda leads big; Congress faces shock reversal

Haryana Assembly elections: Bhupinder Hooda, the former Congress chief minister and a prominent political leader in Haryana, is leading from his stronghold Garhi Sampla-Kiloi by a margin of nearly 41,000 votes, according to the 12:00 pm counting trends on Tuesday.

Election officials began counting votes for the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections at 8am. The 12:00 pm trends showed a major trend reversal, in which the Congress is leading in at least 34 seats. BJP was leading in about 49 seats. The saffron party is eyeing a hattrick in the state. In the initial two hours, the Congress was comfortably ahead of the BJP.

Data on the Election Commission’s website showed Congress ahead in Radaur, Ratia, Badli, Beri, Nuh, Hodal, Palwal, and Thanesar, among other constituencies. Meanwhile, BJP was leading in Mulana, Ladwa, Panipat City, Jind, Nalwa, Bhiwani, Ateli, Pataudi, and Faridabad, according to the 9:30 am trends.

If Congress wins, Hooda may emerge as the chief ministerial candidate in Haryana. Notably, senior Congress leaders Kumari Selja and Randeep Surjewala have also expressed interest in the role. However, Hooda remarked that the contest is a positive sign: “It is a good thing. If you do not have ambition in politics, then your politics will become stagnant. More claimants mean more strength for us (Congress),” he said earlier.

Ladwa is the constituency of BJP Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, who hopes to return as the head of government. He dismissed exit poll predictions on Saturday, asserting that BJP would win a third term.

Other key battles in Haryana include Julana, where Olympian wrestler Vinesh Phogat is trailing; Karnal, where Manohar Lal Khattar’s aide Jagmohan Anand is ahead; and Ratia, where former BJP minister Ranjit Chautala is trailing. Hisar, Tosham, and Badli Kaithal are other key seats.