Stage set for counting of votes in J-K, Haryana today

Political parties and leaders wait with bated breath for the Haryana and Jammu-Kashmir assembly poll results on Tuesday.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Haryana is confident of retaining power for a third term, and the Congress, which is out of power for 10 years, more than hopeful of making a comeback.

In J-K, top leaders of the Congress-National Conference alliance, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the People's Democratic Party have expressed confidence in forming the next government in the Union Territory.

While the Congress and the NC, who formed a pre-poll alliance, claimed they would cross the magical figure of 46 in the 90-member House on their own, the BJP was relying on independent candidates and the PDP said no secular government was possible in Jammu and Kashmir without its support.

Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina said his party would emerge as the single largest, securing 35 seats. With the help of independents and like-minded groups, the BJP would cross the majority mark, he said.

In Haryana, officials said all preparations, including security arrangements, have been completed for the counting process which begins at 8 am on October 8.

"A three-tier security arrangement has been made at counting venues," Haryana's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pankaj Agarwal told PTI on Monday.

The elections in Haryana are the first major direct contest between the BJP and the Congress following the Lok Sabha polls, and the result here would 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 the BJP, the Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Indian National Lok Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party and the Jannayak Janata Party-Azad Samaj Party.

However, most seats are likely to see a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress.

In an official statement later, CEO Agarwal said 93 counting centres have been set up across 90 assembly constituencies in 22 districts of the state.

Two counting centres each have been set up for the Badshahpur, Gurugram, and Pataudi assembly seats, while one counting centre each has been established for the remaining 87 constituencies To monitor the counting process, 90 counting observers also have been appointed by Election Commission of India, the release said.

Postal ballots will be counted first, followed by the counting of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) after 30 minutes. Accurate information on each round of counting will be uploaded in a timely manner, the CEO said.

A total of 1,031 candidates, including 464 Independents and 101 women, are in the fray on Haryana's 90 constituencies which voted in single phase on October 5.

Agarwal said that on the counting day, the strongrooms will be opened in the presence of candidates, their authorised representatives, Returning Officers (ROs)/Assistant Returning Officers (AROs), and ECI observers, with recording of videos. Mobile phones will not be allowed inside the counting centres, he said.

Shatrujeet Kapur, Director General of Haryana Police, said comprehensive security arrangements have been made for the counting with adequate police personnel deployed at every centre.

A traffic diversion plan has been prepared to manage traffic flow around these centres, Kapur said.

Male and female police officers have been deployed for frisking individuals entering the premises. Quick Response Teams (QRTs) are also on standby to maintain law and order, DGP Kapur said.

Several exit polls have predicted a Congress victory in Haryana which recorded a voter turnout of 67.90 per cent.

Rejecting the exit poll results, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has claimed his party BJP will form the government for a third time with full majority on October 8.

He said when results are announced on October 8, the Congress will blame EVMs.

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.

On BJP leaders claiming that their party will return to power, Hooda had earlier stated, "What else will BJP say? They will come to know once results are out."

The INLD-BSP alliance has also claimed that it will form the next government once results are declared, while JJP leader Dushyant Chautala said he his hopeful that his alliance will get good numbers.

AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, whose party contested Haryana polls on its own, has been claiming that no government in Haryana can be formed without his party's support.

The 90 assembly constituencies of Jammu and Kashmir also voted alongside Haryana, but most seats there have witnessed multi-corner contests rather than a direct Congress-BJP fight.

As political parties assessed their chances, the administration was busy on Monday finalising arrangements, including security, at designated centres across all 20 district headquarters.

According to Election Commission officials, a three-tier security set up has been put in place at all the counting centres to ensure that all goes well in the restive border UT, long a stress point and witness to repeated instances of terrorism, insurgency and infiltration from across the border.

Across centres in the Kashmir Valley and Jammu region, security personnel had taken up position and were standing guard.

The first assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir since 2014 were held over three phases.

Of the 90 seats in the Kashmir Valley and Jammu region, 24 voted in the first phase, 26 in the second and 40 in the third.

The fate of 873 candidates, vying for a seat in the 90-member house, has been sealed and known by Tuesday evening.

The turnout was 63.45 per cent, less than the 65.52 percent recorded in the 2014 assembly elections.

Prominent among those in the fray are NC leader Omar Abdullah (contesting from Budgam and Ganderbal assembly segments), Sajad Gani Lone of People's Conference (from Handwara and Kupwara seats), Pradesh Congress Committee president Tariq Hamid Karra (Batamaloo) and BJP state president Ravindra Raina (Nowshera seat).

The other notable contestants are All India Congress Committee general secretary Ghulam Ahmad Mir (Dooru), PDP leaders Waheed Para (Pulwama), Iltija Mufti (Bijbehara), Apni Party president Altaf Bukhari (Chanapora), Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami (Kulgam) and former deputy chief ministers Muzaffar Hussain Baig and Tara Chand.

The exit polls on Saturday have put the NC-Congress alliance in pole position with the regional party getting the lion's share of the seats.

The BJP is expected to slightly improve on its tally of 25 seats which it had won in the 2014 assembly polls while the PDP, which had won 28 seats in the polls held 10 years ago, is predicted to win less than 10 seats this time.

If the exit polls are to be believed, new and emerging parties, including the People's Conference, Apni Party, Democratic Azad Party of Ghulam Nabi Azad and Awami Ittehad Party of Lok Sabha member Sheikh Abdul Rashid, don't stand much of a chance.

These parties along with independents are expected to win around 10 seats.

A day ahead of the results, the politics was already hotting up.

Giving his views on the much discussed question of whether the Congress-NC would take the help of the PDP if needed, NC president Farooq Abdullah said on Monday that his party was open to the idea of taking support of Mehbooba Mufti's party to form government in the union territory.

He also flayed the move to give powers to the Lieutenant Governor for nominating members to the five reserved seats in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, and said his party would approach the Supreme Court if the BJP-led Centre went ahead with it.

Abdullah, who ruled himself out of the race for chief minister's post, said statehood should be restored to Jammu and Kashmir so that the new government has powers to address the people's problems.

Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina asserted that his party will emerge as the single largest party in the region by securing 35 seats and will form government with the help of like-minded and independent candidates.

He also said that the nomination of five MLAs by the LG is being carried out in accordance with the Reorganisation Act.

'All of the five MLAs nominated by LG are BJP members or associated with the party. Brazen pre result rigging & shameful manipulation,' added PDP leader Iltija Mufti on X.

"Irrespective of who gets the majority tomorrow, my humble request to the INDIA bloc, PDP and other regional parties is that they should unite for statehood. They should not form a government till statehood is restored," Lok Sabha member Baramulla Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer told reporters.

Chief Electoral Officer, Jammu and Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole, who visited the counting centre at Degree College Ganderbal on Sunday, has assured seamless counting with due accuracy, transparency and adherence to protocols.

He has emphasised on transparency, ensuring that both the media and the public stay informed of the election results as they unfold.

All concerned officials have been directed to ensure that all necessary measures are implemented in strict accordance with the guidelines of the EC.

Only authorised counting agents of contesting candidates and staff posted on counting duty will be allowed inside the counting halls.

The tally of votes for each candidate will be announced after every round of counting on the public address system outside the counting halls, an official said.