One should never be overconfident in polls. That, says Arvind Kejriwal is the biggest takeaway from the Haryana elections as his Aam Aadmi Party or AAP, going it alone on 89 seats, failed to open its account in the state.

The BJP, defying exit polls’ predictions and breaking poll records, is set to canter home a third time in Haryana. It is leading in 50 of the 90 seats.

“Let us see what the results are in Haryana. The biggest lesson of this is that one should never be overconfident in the elections,” said Mr Kejriwal addressing a gathering of the AAP municipal councillors.

The AAP candidates are trailing on almost all the seats behind their BJP and Congress opponents.

“No election should be taken lightly. Each election and each seat is tough,” he added.

Mr Kejriwal had earlier during the poll campaign in Haryana asserted that no government would be formed in the state without the AAP’s support.

While in Jammu and Kashmir, where the polls were held after a decade, the AAP managed to spring a surprise by winning a seat.

Mehraj Malik – who handed his party a first ever election win in Jammu and Kashmir, in local body polls in December 2020 – won the race Doda seat.

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 Congress, AAP’s INDIA alliance partner at the national level, also was in for a rude jolt. All exit polls predicted a sweeping win for the national party, but as counting began the picture changed quite dramatically, with BJP displacing the pollsters’ favourite and leading by a huge margin. 

The BJP in Haryana will cross 50 seats and form government for the third time, party leader Yogeshwar Dutt told NDTV as the ruling party pulled a rabbit out of its political hat and stunned its principal rival, the Congress, and defied the exit poll predictions, which were not so kind to it.

Leading in 50 seats (out of 90), the BJP looks set to return for a third term, a feat not heard of before in the state. The majority mark is 46.

“Everybody knows how Congress, two days before results, tried to create an atmosphere. We have been saying from the start that we will form the government. You wait and see, we will cross 50 seats and form a government for the third time, which will be a historic achievement,” said Mr Dutt in Hindi.  

“The people of Haryana have shown that they are with the BJP. That they are with an imaandaar (honest) party,” he added, showering praise on the good work done by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and his predecessor ML Khattar.

Asked about Vinesh Phogat, who making her poll debut won from Julana, Mr Dutt said ,”The question is who is forming the government. These few wrestlers – Bajrang Punia, Sakshee Malikkh and Vinesh Phogat – have tried to spoil the atmosphere in Haryana. The Haryana public has answered them. Whether Vinesh wins or loses is not important, if you look at other 89 seats, these wrestlers have had no effect. Haryana does not have just three wrestlers,” said Mr Dutt, an Olympic bronze-medallist, who had to sit out this election.

Pressed to answer what’s next for him, the BJP leader said,”I am happy. It is for the party to decide who should get a ticket. I am with a nationalist party an will remain so.”

Lagging behind, the Congress questioned the Election Commission over its slow pace of counting.

A buoyed BJP has called a meeting of its leaders at the residence of Nayab Singh Saini, who won his seat from Ladwa.