Haryana Election Results: Haryana’s game changed like T-20 in half an hour, BJP snatched happiness from Congress

New Delhi: June 5, 2024. Time is 6 pm. Formal completion of voting on all 90 seats of Haryana Assembly. Reports from TV channels started showing that some voters were still standing in queues at the polling stations and voting would continue for some time. Here, the studios of TV channels are adorned with panels of senior journalists and election experts. Anchors are telling that we will start telling the exit poll results from 6.30 pm. And that time has come. Anchors started announcing that now the exit polls of both the states of Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir will be shown one by one. Strips started coming on TV channels. On one side Haryana, on the other side Jammu and Kashmir. The number of seats in front of both of them started appearing 90-90. Next to them are the names of the major parties and next to them 0-0. Discussion is going on. With time, figures started coming in and it became clear that BJP was facing setbacks in both the states. It was announced in almost all the exit polls that BJP and National Conference (NC) will get almost equal number of seats in Jammu and Kashmir, but Congress is going to have a landslide victory in Haryana.

Date varies. October 8, 2024. Again, same kind of atmosphere on TV channels, same analysis. Waiting for 8 o’clock in the morning when the counting of votes will start. Reports are in the field again. he/she is talking to leaders of different parties. Everyone is claiming victory for their respective parties. The media mic reaches in front of Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini. he/she says- Our government is making a comeback. The reports remind them of the results of exit polls. Then Saini smiles and says just wait, the exact poll (actual results) will be reversed, BJP will get absolute majority.

And that time has come. At 8 o’clock, counting of first postal ballots started as per rules in both the states. Within a short time, trends also started emerging. In both Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, BJP candidates are being shown lagging behind in most of the seats. The results of exit polls seem to be correct. In Haryana, four BJP candidates are ahead of their rivals while Congress has got lead on 30 seats. Gradually this difference decreases. But Congress remains ahead for a long time. Then TV channels start announcing that Congress has got absolute majority in the trends in Haryana. By then BJP seems to be limited to around 25 seats.

This trend continues. By then, trends also start appearing on the Election Commission website. It’s a different story there. BJP ahead of Congress in Haryana! Soon the situation starts changing on TV channels also. The tables have started turning on almost all channels – BJP is ahead and Congress is behind. Gradually the difference in seats between BJP and Congress is increasing. Then the time comes when BJP gets absolute majority in the trends. Distance of just half an hour and Congress is ahead from behind while BJP is ahead from behind! This trend also persists.

Anchors on TV channels start asking pollsters – what is happening, how is it happening? The answer comes, right now these are initial trends. Then he/she draws attention to the vote percentage. In Haryana, Congress is ahead in vote percentage despite lagging behind BJP in terms of seats. Congress seems to be getting around 43% votes while BJP is getting around 40% votes. Then this gap also started filling. The difference of about three percent has come down to one percent.

It is 12.11 pm till the time of writing this news. In Haryana, Congress got 40.25% votes while BJP got 39.29% votes. Trends are still coming in, no decision has been taken on any seat. The results are still awaited, but the trend is in BJP’s favor – BJP is leading on 49 seats, Congress on 35, INLD on 1, BSP on 1 and Independents on 4 seats.