Results of the assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana were declared today. The outcome in Haryana was far from what most exit polls had predicted. The BJP under Manohar Lal Khattar was expected to bag up to over 75 of the 90 seats on offer. Current trends indicate the party may barely end up with half that number.
Notably, the Hindutva party increased its vote share to 36 per cent from 33 per cent in 2014. The Congress, led by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda, too delivered a much improved performance, getting 28% of the vote as against 20% five years ago. It seems to have come at the cost of Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal.
