All parties in Haryana are keeping their fingers crossed as the State witnessed record voting on Wednesday. In the multi-cornered fight, the BJP — the new force in the State — had a clear edge in the campaigning, thanks to the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi throughout the programme.

Though not presenting a chief ministerial face in the State, the BJP had based its campaign on the popularity of Modi. The party hopes to repeat its performance in the Lok Sabha election, where it had won seven out of the 10 seats in the State.

The party was the favourite of the exit pollsters too as most of them predicted that the BJP will obtain simple majority in the State. While the Chanakya-News 24 survey gave it 52 seats, the ABP-Nielsen poll gave it 46 seats. The Times Now C-voter poll has predicted 37 seats for the BJP.

The party believes that it has effectively tackled the Indian National Lok Dal, the principal Opposition party in the State, by playing the caste cards well. The INLD and its supremo Om Prakash Chautala could consolidate their base among the 27 per cent Jat votes in the State by raising his imprisonment in the recruitment scam when he was Chief Minister. His campaign that he did nothing wrong but helped unemployed youth to get jobs has created some sympathy among the Jats.

However, the BJP believes that this campaign has dented the INLD’s chances among other communities such as Dalits, Brahmins, Banias, Yadavs and Gujjars and they have voted in favour of the BJP. The BJP had particularly wooed the Dalits, who constitute over 19 per cent of the electorate in the State.

BJP president Amit Shah’s decision to go it alone in the State also seemed to have paid back. It was for the first time that the BJP was contesting without an alliance in the State. The BJP could ensure that votes got split in a multi-cornered fight and it made inroads into the traditional base of almost all caste groups. The party has also ensured that the Jat votes will split mainly between the Congress and the INLD.

The Congress is awaiting the worst result in its history. Though Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda claimed that he will form the Government for the third term, other Congress leaders were not that confident. A senior leader in Delhi said the party was focusing in just 30 of the 90 seats. “I am not sure how many seats we will get out of this 30,” the leader added.

Irking the Dalit faces of the party, Kumari Selja and PCC president Ashok Tanwar have also damaged the Congress’s prospects. The party, according to the senior leader, was forced to work just among the Jats, of which majority were supporting the INLD.

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