BJP set for historic Haryana hat-trick, Omar Abdullah to be J&K Chief ...

Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana Assembly elections: 10 points

• In Haryana, where exit polls predicted a clean sweep for the Congress, the party's missteps like banking heavily on Jat stalwart Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the sidelining of Dalit leader Kumari Selja may have cost it the election.

• The consolidation of non-Jat votes by the BJP hurt the Congress further. The grand old party focused its efforts on wooing the Jat community and neglected the politically consequential Ahirwal belt, which comprises urban and industrial centres Gurugram, Faridabad, Rewari and Mahendragarh.

• Nayab Singh Saini is being credited as the key architect behind the BJP's success in Haryana. Appointed as chief minister at the last minute, replacing Manohar Lal Khattar, Saini became the face of the BJP's campaign. His leadership is seen as instrumental in overcoming anti-incumbency and securing the party's third consecutive term in the state.

• In Jammu and Kashmir, where a photo finish was predicted by most exit polls, the National Conference staged a sensational comeback. The party won 30 seats and is leading in 11, while ally Congress bagged six seats.

  NC chief Farooq Abdullah expressed confidence about forming the government and said, "It will not be 'police raj' here but 'logon ka raj' here."

• The BJP dominated the Jammu region but posted a dismal performance in the Kashmir Valley. Despite the central government’s five-year push to transform the region into a 'Naya Kashmir' with a focus on peace, development, and prosperity, the promised change did not convert into votes for the saffron party in the region.

• Congress candidate and wrestler Vinesh Phogat won in Julana on her poll debut. The Olympian secured 64,548 votes and beat her nearest rival, BJP’s Yogesh Kumar, by 6,553 votes. Phogat was nominated by the Congress after her heartbreak at the Paris Olympics.

• Staring at defeat in Haryana, the Congress lodged a complaint with the Election Commission alleging "inordinate and unacceptable delay in updating trends" on its website.

  "Like the Lok Sabha elections, in Haryana we are again witnessing slowing down of uploading up-to-date trends on the ECI website. Is the BJP trying to build pressure on the administration by sharing outdated and misleading trends?" tweeted Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.

• The Election Commission dismissed the Congress's charge as unsubstantiated. In a strongly-worded statement, the EC said it "unequivocally rejects" the party's attempt to "surreptitiously give credence to irresponsible, unfounded and uncorroborated malafide narratives".

• In a setback for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the party failed to win any seats in Haryana, the home state of its leader Arvind Kejriwal. However, AAP candidate Mehraj Malik is leading in the race for the Doda assembly seat in Jammu and Kashmir. AAP's loss in Haryana is significant, as the party could not secure a seat-sharing deal with the Congress, its ally in the national INDIA bloc.

• With the NC-Congress a done deal in Jammu and Kashmir, celebrations erupted at the Congress office in Srinagar. Workers distributed sweets and raised slogans of ‘Long live Congress party’.