Even after aggressive campaigning, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to achieve a clear majority in the Haryana Assembly elections on Thursday for the 90-member State Assembly.

A host of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s senior cabinet ministers lost their seat which included finance minister Captain Abhimanyu, agriculture minister Om Prakash Dhankhar and BJP's state unit chief Subhash Barala.

As per trends till 7 pm, BJP was leading in seven seats and had won 33 seats already, to become the single largest party in the 90-member Assembly. Congress had won 28 seats and were leading in three other seats. Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) won 10 seats and independent candidates won seven seats in the state. For the clear majority, a party needs 46 seats to stake the claim for forming the next government.

Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s Congress who had been running a hot and cold relationship with Congress high command in the past after Gandhi family was reluctant to give him the state’s leadership, has emerged stronger who not only retained his seat from Garhi-Sampla-Kiloi but is set to win 31 seats.

In the Jat heartland, Congress won all the four seats in Jhajjar district, three in Rohtak district and Sonipat district barring the Ganaur seat, Congress has emerged winner in all the five seats.

Sports celebrity Yogeshwar Dutt who was contesting from Baroda seat lost to Congress Sri Krishan Hooda, while international wrestler Babita Phogat also lost from Dadri assembly segment. Both were contesting on BJP ticket.

Senior Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi defeated BJP candidate and TikTok star Sonali Phogat from his stronghold Adampur Assembly constituency in Haryana's Hisar district.

Bishnoi, the younger son of former chief minister Bhajan Lal, defeated Phogat by a margin of 29,471 votes.

However, All India Congress Committee spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, a trusted man of Rahul Gandhi, lost the election from Kaithal seat.

Taking moral responsibility of poor show, BJP state president Subhash Barala, who lost from Tohana assembly segment to JJP candidate Devinder Babli, had reportedly tendered his resignation in the afternoon, however speaking to ANI, he later clarified that it was just a rumour.

The vote share of the Congress, which has emerged stronger than the last polls but is behind the BJP, is almost the same as it was in the Lok Sabha polls.

The party got 28.42% of the total votes polled in the Lok Sabha election, while in the Assembly polls, it has secured 28.13% and 31 seats.

The tally of the BJP, which was ahead in 79 Assembly segments after the results of the Lok Sabha polls were declared, is around 40 seats.

Congress Legislative Party leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Thursday said that the mandate of people is against the BJP and hence all other parties—including the JJP, BSP, INLD and independents—should come together to respect the mandate.

Hooda said that as the Chairman of Congress party’s Election Management Committee, he assures all political parties that they will be given due respect in the coalition government.

He said that the fact that all the ministers of the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP government have lost from their respective seats shows that people don’t want BJP to retain power.

Hooda said that it would be “unethical and immoral” for the BJP to stake a claim under the prevailing circumstances.

Kingmaker Dushyant Chautala?

Jannayak Janta Party leader Dushyant Chautala whose party has got over 10 seats in the fractured mandate scenario of electoral politics, remained non-committal on whether his party would support the BJP or the Congress in forming a government in case of a hung assembly.

Counting trends indicated that neither the ruling BJP nor the Congress will be able to form a government on their own in the state.

The 10-month-old JJP won 10 seats placing the party leader Dushyant Chautala in the kingmaker’s role.

“This shows there was huge anti-incumbency against the Khattar government,” Chautala commented.

However, when asked whether his party will support the BJP or the Congress, Chautala remained non-committal.

It was the maiden election of JJP which came into existence 11 months ago.

The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is ahead in just one seat of Ellenabad where Abhay Singh Chautala is the incumbent legislator. Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) president Gopal Kanda registered a win from Sirsa seat.

In the 2014 assembly polls, the BJP had won 47 seats. It won the Jind bypoll earlier this year, taking the total strength to 48.

The INLD had 19 MLAs while the Congress has 17 legislators.