Saturday, 21 December 2024
Saturday, 21 December 2024
The Haryana Assembly election result was almost a rerun of the Paris Olympics for Vinesh Phogat; she won the battle but lost the war.
She won her seat of Julana by 6,015 votes, but the BJP seemed to have run away with the medal; at 5.40pm, the Election Commission of India website showed the BJP at 48 seats including leads and wins, and Phogat’s Congress at 37 in the 90-member Assembly.
"This was a people's battle, and they've won and I was just a face. I am thankful to all the love and respect that I've received," she said shortly after her victory.
Hers was also a seesaw battle for much of the day, like it was for her party.
The BJP had 41 seats in the outgoing Haryana Assembly, so it can relish its hat-trick.
The Congress, like Phogat, has vowed to fight. The party raised with the Election Commission the issue of an "unexplained slowdown" in updating of results of the Haryana election and urged it to direct officials to update accurate figures so "false news and malicious narratives" can be countered immediately.
Later, Pawan Khera, the party spokesperson, said in Delhi: “We are receiving many complaints from Hisar, Mahendragarh and Panipat of discrepancy in EVMs. Our candidates have filed complaints to the Returning Officer, but we will take all these complaints to EC.”
As the vote count in Haryana oscillated between the ruling and the Opposition parties with the morning hours delivering a nail biter, the vote share was also tantalisingly close.
Three hours after counting began at 8am, the BJP was at 38.7 per cent and the Congress a little more at 40.5 per cent. By 3.45 pm, the Congress was down to 39.05 per cent and the BJP had inched ahead at 39.89.
“The Congress will get a majority. Congress will form government in Haryana,” veteran Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda told reporters in Rohtak earlier in the morning.
Kumari Selja, his party colleague and a rival for the chief minister’s post had the Congress won, was also sure her party would emerge victorious. “Hold your horses. Congress will form a government with overwhelming majority,” she said.
Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini had his tongue firmly in cheek as he took a swipe at his former party colleague: “I am confident of forming the government for a third time in Haryana. In less than 45 minutes, Ashok Tanwar joined Rahul Gandhi from the BJP rally… that shows the quality of infrastructure and roads the BJP government developed.”
With the BJP seeming set to retain power, party leader Anil Vij also threw his hat into the ring for the post of the chief minister.
"In our party, individuals do not announce these things. Earlier, I had only made it clear that I am not averse to it [being named chief minister]. The decision will be taken by the high command," Vij, who was set to win from Ambala Cantt after trailing in the morning, told PTI Videos.
The NC scored big in Jammu and Kashmir, where Assembly elections were held for the first time since 2019 when Article 370 was abrogated and the state bifurcated into Union Territories.
The NC won 42 of the 51 seats it contested. Its “junior partner” Congress bagged six of the 32 it fought.
The BJP won 29 seats, Independents bagged seven and the PDP three. The PDP’s Iltija Mufti, daughter of party president Mehbooba Mufti, lost.
"I accept the verdict of the people. The love & affection I received from everyone in Bijbehara will always stay with me. Gratitude to my PDP workers who worked so hard throughout this campaign," Iltija posted on X.
The day belonged to NC leader Omar Abdullah, who lost his parliamentary election this year and won from both Assembly seats he contested – Budgam and Ganderbal in the Valley.
Ready for a second stint as chief minister – he was last CM from 2009-2014 – Omar told reporters that efforts had been under way to finish his party.
“But those who wanted to finish us have been wiped out. Our responsibilities have increased…”
As the party readied for power along with the Congress, his father, NC president Farooq Abdullah, said categorically: "Omar Abdullah will be the chief minister."
The NC president also said the verdict was proof that the people of J&K were against the abrogation of Article 370.
"The people have given their verdict and proven that the decisions taken on August 5, 2019 are not acceptable to them," he said. "I am thankful to everyone that the people participated in the polls and did so freely. I am grateful to god for the results."
Farooq said the elected government would have to do a lot of work to end the "sufferings" of the people.
"We have to end unemployment and address issues like inflation and drug menace. Now, there will be no LG and his advisors. Now, there will be 90 MLAs who will work for people," he said.
(with inputs from PTI)
