BJP wins comfortably in Haryana but vote share with Congress close

Chandigarh: With just six legislators in 2000, then two in 2005 and four in 2009, the BJP has now surged to 48 seats in Haryana, securing a hat-trick of victories in the state. This performance surpasses even its 2014 breakthrough, when the party first came to power on its own.

Bucking anti-incumbency, the ruling party in the state has retained power and halted the Congress' comeback attempt in the assembly elections, the results of which were announced Tuesday.

The BJP is set to retain power and form its third straight government, a historic first for the state, after winning 48 seats in the 2024 assembly polls. The Congress, which was predicted to win by many exit polls, won 37 seats, according to the Election Commission website. Three Independent candidates also tasted victory.

The BJP had contested 89 of the 90 seats in Haryana this time. It did not contest the Sirsa seat, from where its ally Gopal Kanda was the sitting MLA. Kanda, however, lost his seat.

From single-digit struggles to hat-trick of wins

Before 2014, the BJP was restricted from playing second fiddle, mainly to parties like the INLD and then Bansi Lal-led Haryana Vikas Party (now merged with Congress). It contested the polls on all 90 seats on its own for the first time in 2014.

In 2019, the BJP won 40 seats and formed the government in Haryana with the support of the JJP and some Independents.

In 2014, the party was buoyed by its performance in the Lok Sabha polls, in which it had won seven of the eight seats it contested.

Prior to the 47 seats it won in 2014 and 48 this year, the BJP's best-ever electoral performance in Haryana, carved out as a separate state in 1966, was 16 seats out of 20 it had contested in 1987. The Devi Lal-led INLD had swept to power that year.

However, in 1991, the BJP again went down, managing to win just two seats. In 1996, it won 11. Unlike now and 2019, in the 2014 assembly polls, the BJP did not declare anyone as its chief ministerial candidate and the polls were fought under collective leadership.

Before the 2014 assembly polls, the then BJP ally Haryana Janhit Congress, which was then led by Kuldeep Bishnoi, had separated.

To bolster its poll prospects, the BJP had covered all 90 assembly segments by way of four Vijay Sankalp Yatras.

Vote share close to Congress

The vote share of the BJP and Congress turned out to be close even though the saffron party won the elections with a simple majority. The BJP received 39.94 per cent votes, while the Congress managed 39.09 per cent in the assembly polls.

Both parties got more votes this time than the last state polls but the Congress saw a 11 percentage point jump, significantly more than BJP's three percentage point rise.

In 2019 assembly polls, when the BJP won 40 seats out of 90 in the assembly, its vote share was 36.49 per cent. The Congress, meanwhile, had a 28.08 per cent vote share for its 31 seats.

Of the 90 seats, BJP did not contest the Sirsa seat while Congress had left Bhiwani seat for its ally CPI (M) to contest. Meanwhile, INLD, which won two seats, improved on its vote share of 2019, securing 4.14 percent this time as against 2.44 per cent last time when it had won only one seat.

JJP suffered a heavy loss of vote share, a fall from 15 per cent in 2019 -- when it had won 10 seats -- to 0.90 per cent.

AAP, which contested on its own, secured a vote share of 1.79 per cent as against 0.48 percent in last assembly elections.

NOTA vote share stood at 0.38 per cent this time as against 0.52 in the last elections.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress and BJP won five seats each. BJP had secured a vote share of 46.11 per cent while Congress had secured a vote share of 43.67 from the nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats it contested. AAP, as an INDIA bloc party, had fielded its candidate in Kurukshetra and lost.

'Historic verdict,' says Andhra CM

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday congratulated the BJP for its win in Haryana assembly polls describing it as a 'historic verdict'. Naidu told reporters here that it is a very good thing to win for the third time. Furthermore, he said, "the Prime Minister has also become PM for the third time. These are all good signs. Positive mood. We really appreciate it. I congratulate the central government and BJP and also NDA for the historic verdict."

Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan in a social media post said the BJP’s performance showcased the visionary leadership of PM Modi. “The BJP's remarkable performance in the Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir assembly elections once again showcases the visionary leadership, inclusive politics, and public welfare focus of Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi ji, along with his strong public support,” he said.

"People of Haryana saw through Congress propaganda: KTR

Taking a swipe at the Congress party, BRS leader K T Rama Rao said Congress could hoodwink the people of Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana with its poll guarantees, but the voters of Haryana saw through the party's 'lies and propaganda.'

Reacting to the assembly election results on social media platform 'X,' he claimed that Congress should understand that in a connected world, just promising but not delivering on the assurances made to people would be disastrous.

He claimed that the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir assembly election results showed that national parties, the BJP and Congress are going to be far from the magic figure 'on their own' in 2029 Lok Sabha polls.

"Few things evident from the election results today & will hopefully hold true even after MH, Jharkhand & Delhi polls... Strong regional parties will hold the key to the formation of next Union Govt and probably for at least another decade or so," he said.