The Haryana Assembly poll verdict threw up a hung House, with no party reaching the majority figures. The BJP is leading on 40 seats in the 90-member Haryana assembly, where the majority mark is at 46. The Congress is leading on 31 seats. Jat leader Dushyant Chautala's Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) could emerge as a possible kingmaker. Manohar Lal Khattar will meet the Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya today to stake claim to form government in the state, sources have said. The less than 12-month-old Jannayak Janata Party (JJP), which broke away from the state's once major regional Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) owing to family disputes, won 10 seats.
The BJP chief in Haryana, Subhash Barala, who lost to his rival from the JJP in Tohana assembly seat, denied reports that he had offered to step down after the party's lower than expected performance - it has been struggling to even touch the majority mark of 46 in the 90-seat assembly.
BJP chief Amit Shah gave his "thanks" to the people of Haryana for ensuring the BJP remained the single-largest party in the northern state. All the party's state ministers, except two, lost the polls, including Anil Vij and party chief Subhash Barala.
High praise went to the BJP team in Haryana from Prime Minister Narendra Modi too. "People who know Haryana politics, they must know if we had to form an alliance with a party in the state, we had to fight on seats of their choice. This was a condition before 2014. It would be a big deal if we even touched double digits... To come from there to where we are today is remarkable," PM Modi said.
The INLD won a lone seat against 19 in 2014 Assembly election. Eight independents have also won.
While Khattar retained his Karnal seat with a comfortable margin, two-time Chief Minister and Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda too managed to win in his bastion of Garhi Sampla-Kiloi in Rohtak district.
