Haryana Election 2024 Result: Will the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) form the government for the third time in Haryana or will the Congress prove exit polls right and snatch victory after 10 years in one of the most closely watched assembly elections? As the counting of votes begins, all eyes are on the first major direct contest between the BJP and the Congress following the Lok Sabha polls, given that the result will be used by the winner to build a narrative in their favour in other states where polls due over the next few months. The key parties in the fray are BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, INLD-BSP and JJP-Azad Samaj Party. However, most seats are likely to see a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress.

A total of 1,031 candidates, including 464 Independents and 101 women, are in the fray in Haryana’s 90 constituencies which voted in single phase on October 5. Several exit polls have predicted a Congress victory in Haryana which recorded a voter turnout of 67.90 per cent.

Here are the latest updates:

• Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has claimed his party BJP will form the government for a third time with full majority, claiming that when results are announced on October 8, the Congress will blame Electronic Voting Machines.

• On the other hand, Congress leader and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a frontrunner for the chief minister’s post if his party wins, exuded confidence of a comfortable majority. The INLD-BSP alliance has also claimed that it will form the next government once results are declared, while JJP leader Dushyant Chautala has exuded confidence that his alliance will get good numbers.

• Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal, whose party contested Haryana polls on its own, has been claiming that no government in Haryana can be formed without the support of party.

• Prominent among those in the fray are chief minister Saini (Ladwa), Leader of Opposition Hooda (Garhi Sampla-Kiloi), INLD’s Abhay Chautala (Ellenabad), JJP’s Dushyant Chautala (Uchana Kalan), BJP’s Anil Vij (Ambala Cantt), Capt Abhimanyu (Narnaund), OP Dhankar (Badli), AAP’s Anurag Dhanda (Kalayat) and Congress’ Vinesh Phogat (Julana).

• In the outgoing Assembly, the strength of ruling BJP is 41 (including the Adampur seat won in 2022 bypoll), the Congress has 28 MLAs, the JJP (6), while Haryana Lokhit Party and Indian National Lok Dal have one member each. There are four Independents, while nine seats are vacant. Seven of the nine seats fell vacant as their representatives resigned after switching sides, while the Badshahpur seat fell vacant as Independent MLA Rakesh Daulatabad died in May.

• In 2019, the BJP formed the government with the support of JJP while most Independents had also extended support. However, JJP’s post-poll tie-up with the BJP ended after the saffron party replaced Manohar Lal Khattar with Nayab Singh Saini as chief minister in March this year.