Haryana: It’s Khattar’s Diwali After All As BJP Emerges Strongest To Form Government, Here Are All The Details

In a late twist, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is all set to return for a second term as the BJP will stake claim to form the government later this evening, ANI has reported.

Khattar is likely to meet Governor Satyadev Narayan Arya to kick start the government formation formalities.

This development comes in the light of Haryana’s election equation where the BJP now sits in the strongest position to form the government.

As per latest election commission data, the BJP has won 31 seats and is leading on nine others which puts its total tally at 40 seats. The Congress on the other hand is likely to win 31 seats. The Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) of Dushyant Chautala which was expected to become the kingmaker is winning 10 seats.

Earlier in the day when the fight was much closer between the BJP and the Congress, reports floated around about the possibility of a Karnataka like scenario where the Congress might offer JJP the Chief Minister’s seat to win support.

As things stand the Congress+JJP alliance would stand at 41 seats, just one more than the BJP.

In all seven independents are set to win in the state and one MLA each will be sent by Haryana Lokhit Party and INLD.

The BJP is theoretically in a position to prove its majority if it manages to secure the support of six out of seven independents.

Even if the BJP manages to form the government, it has been a humbling experience for the party as it had set its sights on winning 75+ seats in the state via the slogan Abki Baar 75 Paar (This time we will win over 75 seats).

The BJP had won 47 seats in the 2014 assembly polls to wrest power with a razor thin margin. The hopes of its supporters were lifted when the state gave 10 out of 10 Lok Sabha seats to the BJP.

For the Congress, it will be more than a moral victory as not so long ago the state unit was in a disarray when former state unit head Ashok Tanwar quit the party.

The BJP’s result also comes in the light of its party manifesto where it had rejected to fall for the populism bait of the Congress and had published a realistic document without job quota, farm loan waiver promises.