New Delhi:

The business of winning a historic third consecutive election completed, the Bharatiya Janata Party has now switched focus to forming the new Haryana government, specifically the constitution of a cabinet with a nod to caste equations in the heartland state. 

The party’s 48 newly elected lawmakers are expected to meet later today, but it is the central leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on which all eyes rest.

There can be a maximum of 14 ministers in the Haryana government including Chief Minister-elect Nayab Singh Saini, who met Mr Modi at his residence in Delhi Wednesday. 

Sources told NDTV the BJP has already sanctioned a second (and first full) term for Mr Saini.

READ | BJP To Stay With Nayab Saini As Haryana Chief Minister: Sources

So that leaves 13 open positions, of which the BJP will have to look for 11 new faces because only Mahipal Dhanda and Mool Chand Sharma, have retained their seats.

Balancing caste equations and communities’ demands while forming a government is not an easy task, but it is one the BJP has done successfully in the recent past; in December last year, after winning the Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh elections, the party took its time to announce chief ministers and cabinets, consulting MLAs and state leaders.

NDTV Explains | BJP’s 2024 Gameplan Behind Hattrick Of Heartland Surprises

Similar measures will likely be necessary in Haryana, where the BJP now has nine MLAs from the Dalit community, eight with Punjabi origins, seven Brahmins, and six each from the Jats and the Yadavs. The party now also has Gurjars, Rajputs, Vaishyas, and an OBC leader.

The BJP has nine Dalit MLAs in this government, two of whom are at the forefront. One is six-time MLA Krishna Lal Panwar and the other is two-time MLA Krishna Bedi.

Among the eight with Punjabi origins is seven-time MLA and ex-Home Minister Anil Vij, who sulked in March after he was not made Chief Minister; this was after then Chief-Minister Manohar Lal Khattar stepped down following his nomination to a Lok Sabha seat.

Last month Mr Vij, who won his Ambala Cantonment seat, threw his hat into that ring for a third time but was again passed over, and that might create a bit of a problem for the party.

READ | BJP’s Anil Vij Says Will Stake Claim For Haryana Chief Minister Post

Then there is Jind MLA Krishnan Middha, who won his seat for a third straight time.

Another now three-time MLA is Ghanshyam Das Arora from Yamunanagar, but his appointment may be skipped since his seat lies within the Ambala region.

Mr Arora may be passed over for Vinod Bhayana, the three-time MLA from Hansi.

Then there are the Brahmins. 

Among them is three-time MLA from Ballabgarh Mool Chand Sharma, who will likely be retained in the Cabinet. Another possible is two-time Lok Sabha MP Arvind Sharma who won Gohana, and Ram Gautam, who delivered Safidon, which the BJP had never won.

The key for the BJP are six MLAs from the Ahirwal belt that voted, once again, overwhelmingly for the party. That support was crucial this time to defeat the Congress.

Among them is six-time MLA Rao Narbir Singh from Badhsahpur; he was not in the first Saini government but was in that headed by Mr Khattar after the 2014 election win.

Aarti Rao, the daughter of veteran junior Union Minister Rao Indrajit, won the Ateli seat for the first time, but her name is nevertheless on a shortlist, as is two-time MLA Laxman Yadav.

And then there are the Jats, one of the largest of Haryana’s sub-populations.

Jat leader Mahipal Dhanda is now a two-time MLA from Panipat (Rural) and is likely to be retained. Krishna Gehlawat, elected for the second time from Rai, is also in this race. A possible big new name is Shruti Chaudhary, the daughter of the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Kiran Chaudhary.

Other possibles include ex-minister Vipul Goyal from the Vaishya community.

READ | India’s Richest Woman Savitri Jindal, 2 Independents Back Haryana BJP

But perhaps the biggest name here is Savitri Jindal, India’s richest woman and an independent MLA from Hisar, who formally offered her support to the BJP last night.

The Rajput community may get Shyam Singh Rana and three-time MLA Harvinder Kalyan may be the Road community rep. Ranbir Gangwa could represent the OBC community; he was the Deputy Speaker in the previous government. Rajesh Nagar, a two-time MLA from Tigaon could be the Gurjar pick.

New Delhi:

Jalebis for Rahul Gandhi. Jalebis for the Congress.

The BJP’s Haryana unit celebrated a thrilling comeback Tuesday to win a historic third consecutive Assembly election by sending a kilogram of the fried sweet dish to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi at his Delhi office. The gesture, though, hardly one of courtesy to a beaten rival.

It was, instead, a jubilant swipe over his comment about jalebis from Haryana’s Gohana.

“On behalf of all the workers of Bhartiya Janta Party (in) Haryana, jalebis have been sent to Rahul Gandhi’s home,” the party said on X. Attached was a screenshot from a food delivery app confirming an order from a Delhi-based sweets and chaat shop to Mr Gandhi.

The delivery address shown was 24, Akbar Road in Delhi – the Congress’ HQ.

भारतीय जनता पार्टी हरियाणा के समस्त कार्यकर्ताओं की तरफ से राहुल गांधी जी के लिए उनके घर पर जलेबी भिजवा दी है pic.twitter.com/Xi8SaM7yBj

— Haryana BJP (@BJP4Haryana) October 8, 2024

Why jalebis?

While campaigning Mr Gandhi spoke about jalebis from the area being mass manufactured and sold across the country, as well as being exported, to generate employment and revenue.

READ | Rahul Gandhi, BJP, And The Jalebi Factor In The Haryana Election

He claimed jalebi sellers had been hurt by the centre’s GST, or Goods and Services Tax, system.

The remarks drew (predictably so) jibes from BJP leaders who declared Mr Gandhi ‘clueless’ about how the sweet dish is prepared. Ex Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “I also like Gohana jalebi… but one has to understand how they are made and are sold.”

The BJP veteran declared Mr Gandhi “does not do his homework properly”.

But it isn’t just Mr Gandhi who has used the jalebis in a campaign speech this year; Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking before the April-June general election, did so too.

Mr Modi used the jalebi to make what seemed to be unsubstantiated claim – that the opposition INDIA bloc’s plan to rotate the Prime Minister’s post every year in the event they won.

“Ask them – is Prime Minister’s post our Matu Ram ki jalebi?” he asked.

Gohana jalebis were first made in 1958, when a local businessman called Matu Ram began selling it. Today his business is run by his grandsons. “The jalebi is made of pure desi ghee… it is crispy yet soft… and each one weighs around 250 gram. A box of four, weighing about one kilogram, costs Rs 320,” Raman Gupta, one of the grandsons, told PTI.

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New Delhi:

The Haryana election result is a “big setback for the Congress”, senior leader and one-time chief ministerial hopeful Kumari Selja told NDTV Tuesday afternoon. “…very disappointing,” she said.

“I was very excited in the morning… we had expected to win up to 60 (of Haryana’s 90 Assembly seats), so this result is a big setback for us. We will assess the reasons for our defeat… there can be many… and see how these can be overcome for future elections,” the senior leader told NDTV.

Ms Selja offered a brief analysis of the Congress’ poor showing despite a feeling of anti-incumbency against the Bharatiya Janata Party. “See… before the election there were two factors – BJP’s negative (image) and the Congress as a credible option. We were wrong in (assuming) both these things.”

“We will have to look at all these factors,” Ms Selja told NDTV, also seeming to take a swipe at state rival Bhupinder Hooda, “Ticket distribution was also an issue (but) what can we say about this now?”

READ | Infighting To Jat Focus: 5 Factors In Congress’ Haryana Setback

The Congress – bidding to stop the BJP from a third consecutive win in the Hindi heartland state – got off to a flying start, posting strong gains in early leads drawn from postal ballots.

These prompted celebrations at the party’s HQ in Delhi and in the state, with enthusiastic supporters distributing jalebis and bursting firecrackers. But the ruling party mounted a thrilling comeback.

READ | BJP Heads For Big Win In Haryana Thriller, 3rd Term Preps On

By about 9 am the BJP had overhauled and overtaken its rival, and has not looked back since; Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party is now set to record its biggest ever election victory in the state.

The rapid and unsettling turnaround in the Congress’ fortunes in Haryana – in which it battled the BJP to a draw, sharing the state’s 10 Lok Sabha seats – has played out against a backdrop of internal bickering, led by dispute between Ms Selja and Bhupinder Hooda over the Chief Minister’s post.

Ms Selja and Mr Hooda have both made no secret of their ambitions.

Kumari Selja vs Bhupinder Hooda

Hours earlier, just as the Congress’ hold on the result was slipping away, Ms Selja spoke to NDTV. “Yes. I am among the contenders… but the final decision is with the party high command,” she said.

READ | “CM Decision With High Command”: Congress’ Kumari Selja To NDTV

Meanwhile, the 77-year-old Mr Hooda is raring for a third term; he made it clear to news agency PTI he is “neither tired nor retired” but also said the party HQ, and its elected MLAs, will take the call.

There was significant buzz in Haryana political circles last month after Ms Selja seemed to be in a funk; a prominent state leader with influence over the Dalit vote, she delayed campaigning for the party.

There was speculation she was unhappy with the way candidates were chosen; these seemed to favour loyalists of Bhupinder Hooda. She was also unhappy, it was said, at being taken for granted.

READ | “Should Never Be Doubt…”: Congress’ Kumari Selja On BJP Rumours

One of the issues flagged was that Ms Selja had made it clear she wanted to contest the state poll, but that was overruled by the party HQ and she was fielded from (and won) the Sirsa Lok Sabha seat.

She later told NDTV, “I wanted to contest… party didn’t allow. That is ok…”, but then warned of “issues… serious issues” that need to be resolved within the Congress’ state unit.

“It was never intended I shall remain absent (from the campaign) throughout. I will campaign…” she also said, “…because I am a party solider. I’ve always said I am a good soldier.”

What Hooda Said

Last week Mr Hooda dismissed “hypothetical questions” and underlined his position on the chief ministerial race – that the final decision will be taken by the Congress’ central leadership.

But more telling was his response to a question on Kumari Selja becoming the Congress’ next Haryana Chief Minister. “This is a democracy… everybody should aspire. But the MLAs will decide…” he said.

The reference to MLAs deciding is key because a majority of them are understood to be loyal to the former Chief Minister, Ms Selja has already said it is “not healthy” for state lawmakers to be involved in the selection of a Chief Minister; “I think the ‘high command’ should decide, otherwise people get tied down and that, I feel, also leads to further factionalism,” she told NDTV this week.

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New Delhi:

The Aam Aadmi Party’s Mehraj Malik – who handed his party a first ever election win in Jammu and Kashmir, in local body polls in December 2020 – is now leading the race for the Doda legislative seat, as votes are being counted for the first Assembly election in the former state in a decade.

According to Election Commission data at 1.30 pm the AAP candidate was nearly 5,000 votes ahead of the BJP’s Gajay Singh Rana and leading the National Conference’s Khalid Najib Suharwardy by nearly 10,000. Twelve of 13 rounds of counting have been completed, according to the poll panel.

The Doda seat was won by the BJP’s Shakti Raj in the 2014 election, but has traditionally flipped between the National Conference and the Congress since the first poll in 1962.

The AAP’s (almost) success in J&K comes as a bit of a shock to many, particularly since it has been blanked in Haryana – party boss Arvind Kejriwal’s home state. Should the Haryana trend hold it will be a major setback for Mr Kejriwal, particularly since the Delhi election is only four months away.

READ | AAP’s Expansion Plan Hits Haryana Wall, Leads Indicate Zero Seats

The AAP’s Haryana loss is also key given it could not agree a seat-share with the Congress, with which it is allied – under the INDIA bloc umbrella – on the national stage.

The AAP and Congress had all but reached an agreement but state leaders from either side vetoed a deal asked for by Rahul Gandhi, who has often spoken of the need for the opposition to stand united.

READ | AAP-Congress Pre-Poll Alliance Failed In Haryana. This Is Why

Back in J&K, Mr Malik is leading in a seat and region that has been roiled by terror attacks over the past several months; as recently as August, in fact, an Army Captain was killed in action in an encounter with terrorists in the Assar area of the district. A civilian was also injured. Security forces also recovered a United States-made assault rifle and three blood-soaked rucksacks with equipment and logistics.

In fact, in July J&K Police launched a major crackdown on entrenched terror networks after a deadly encounter in Doda in which four Army personnel, including another officer, were killed in action.

READ | Major Crackdown Against Terror Network After Doda Encounter

Doda was also where Prime Minister Narendra Modi began the BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir election campaign; his visit last month was the first by a sitting Prime Minister in over four decades.

Multi-tier security was deployed across Doda and Kishtwar in preparation for Mr Modi’s visit.

The AAP leader’s good showing so far is also an outlier in an election that has, so far, been dominated by the National Conference-Congress alliance, which is leading in over 50 of the former state’s 90 Assembly seats. The BJP – which has never ruled J&K on its own – is trailing with 27 leads.

Exit polls had given the Congress-NC alliance a slight edge. An aggregate of three indicates the Congress-NC will win 43 seats and the BJP 26, with the PDP winning between four and 12.

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New Delhi:

Congress MP Kumari Selja has confirmed she is a contender for the post of Chief Minister – if her party wins the 2024 Haryana Assembly election. Speaking to NDTV Ms Selja smiled and said, “Yes. I am among the contenders to be Chief Minister… but the final decision is with the party high command.”

Ms Selja also said the people of Haryana “know their future is (with the) Congress”. “The electorate looks at their future… and they know their future is Congress,” she said Tuesday morning, confident that Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and effort by workers on the ground will translate into a win.

On her party’s chances of upsetting the Bharatiya Janata Party – which is bidding for, and closing in on, a third consecutive win in the Hindi heartland state – Ms Selja said, “It is natural to have fatigue (referring to the anti-incumbency vote)… there was also the BJP’s misrule. That was a big factor.”

The Congress had raced into an early lead as postal ballots and early votes were counted, but it was soon pegged back, with the ruling party then crossing the halfway mark soon after.

READ | BJP Surges Ahead In Haryana Thriller, Congress Pauses Celebrations

The party, though, remains confident it will eventually prevail. Ms Selja said, “As counting progresses, we will win more than 60 Assembly seats and Congress will form the government.”

The race to form the Haryana government is, of course, the big story.

Kumari Selja vs Bhupinder Hooda?

But there is a subplot within the Congress camp, with senior leaders Ms Selja and Bhupinder Hooda going head-to-head to be named Chief Minister. Mr Hooda is raring for a third term; he made it clear he is “neither tired nor retired” but also said the party HQ, and its elected MLAs, will take the call.

Ms Selja – who won the Sirsa Lok Sabha seat in the April-June election – was earlier more circumspect, having told NDTV last month, “Why should I ‘stake claim’? Why should it be about ‘staking claim’?”

READ | “Haryana Can Give Me Space”: Kumari Selja, Day After Exit Polls

She suggested the choice should reflect “who works hard and is committed to the people”.

Kumari Selja Unhappy?

There was significant buzz in Haryana political circles last month after Ms Selja seemed to be in a funk; a prominent state leader with influence over the Dalit vote, she delayed campaigning for the party.

There was speculation she was unhappy with the way candidates were chosen; these seemed to favour loyalists of Bhupinder Hooda. She was also unhappy, it was said, at being taken for granted.

One of the issues flagged was that Ms Selja had made it clear she wanted to contest the state poll, but that was overruled by the party HQ and she was fielded from (and won) the Sirsa Lok Sabha seat.

She later told NDTV, “I wanted to contest… party didn’t allow. That is ok…”, but then warned of “issues… serious issues” that need to be resolved within the Congress’ state unit.

“It was never intended I shall remain absent (from the campaign) throughout. I will campaign…” she also said, “…because I am a party solider. I’ve always said I am a good soldier.”

All of this led the BJP to declare she had been “disrespected”.

There was also an ‘invitation’, proffered by ex-Chief Minister ML Khattar, who declared “any self-respecting person” in her shoes would consider their next steps.

However, in the same interview with NDTV Ms Selja laughed off such talk and invited the BJP, instead, to “first set their own house in order”. “How much respect do they give (to Dalits) …”

What Hooda Said

Last week Mr Hooda dismissed “hypothetical questions” and underlined his position on the chief ministerial race – that the final decision will be taken by the Congress’ central leadership.

But more telling was his response to a question on Kumari Selja becoming the Congress’ next Haryana Chief Minister. “This is a democracy… everybody should aspire. But the MLAs will decide…” he said.

Bhupinder Hooda is seen by many as having the Congress’ Delhi leaders’ tacit backing.

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Hisar (Haryana):

As the polling for 90 assembly constituencies in Haryana began today, Congress MP Kumari Selja said that the BJP is ready to welcome her because they are already “very weak”.

Speaking to media persons after casting her vote at a polling booth in Hisar, Ms Selja said, “Today’s fight will change the fate of Haryana. Although this is a one-sided contest… BJP is ready to welcome me because they are already very weak. They will do anything to have strong leaders with them… We will win all 90 seats.”

When asked about the speculations of a rift within Congress in the state, she said, “At the end of the day, our party high command makes decisions.”

Earlier on Friday, in an interview with ANI, she said she was a senior leader with enough weight to be considered a front-runner for the top post.

“See, that only high command will have to answer, they will only decide. There are a few people who would be in the consideration zone, and I think Selja would be there. Seniority mein, kaam mein, in sab cheezon mein nam aur politics aur ye political decisions ye toh high command dekhega (the high command would look at the seniority, work done, and everything else. These political decisions would be taken by high command,” Ms Selja told ANI.

“Toh aise mein Selja ko high command nazar andaz toh nahi karega (So the Party high command can’t ignore Selja),” she added

Over two crore people are eligible to vote in the Haryana Assembly elections today, which will decide whether the BJP will hold on to power for the third time or the Congress will return to power after a ten-year gap.

The Haryana assembly election is a high-stakes battle as the BJP is eyeing a third straight term to power in the state, the Congress party is aiming to wrest back power riding on anti-incumbency, and issues of farmer protests and wrestler protests.

The key contesting parties in Haryana include the BJP, Congress, and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), as well as the pre-poll alliance between the Indian National Lok Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party (INLD-BSP) and the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP)-Azad Samaj Party (ASP). Voting in Haryana started at 7 am and will conclude at 6 pm.

A total of 1,031 candidates are contesting in all 90 assembly constituencies, and 20,632 polling booths have been set up for voting. The results for the Haryana Assembly elections will be declared along with those of Jammu and Kashmir on October 8.

In the 2019 Assembly elections, the BJP won 40 of the 90 seats, forming a coalition government with the JJP, which won 10 seats. The Congress secured 31 seats. However, JJP later broke out of the coalition.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)