Maharashtra And Haryana Exit Polls Live: BJP Likely To Continue Its Dominance In Both States

Incumbent governments are expected to return to power with a bigger mandate in Maharashtra and Haryana—the first set of assembly elections held after Lok Sabha 2019—according to a series of exit polls.

In Maharashtra, the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena, despite months of bickering over seat share, are likely to win well over 200 seats out of 288. That's higher than the 185 seats they had in the previous assembly polls.

The Congress-NCP duo, weakened significantly by an exodus of leaders, will see its seat share shrink compared with last time.

Haryana, too, will see the return of BJP’s Manohar Lal Khattar. The saffron party is expected to win nearly 70 out of 90 seats, with one poll even pegging the number as high as 75. In the previous assembly polls, BJP had 47 seats.

Congress is expected to win 13 seats while fledgling Dushyant Dave’s Jannayak Janta Party failed to make a dent.

The Times Now exit poll has the most bullish estimate for BJP in Maharashtra. It expects the saffron party to cross the halfway mark of 144 seats on its own. This would potentially give it the power to form a government without Shiv Sena.

The BJP and Shiv Sena alliance is expected to cross the 200-mark in Maharashtra, according to ABP-CVoter.

BJP is expected to get another five years of power in Haryana winning between 52-63 seats, according to the Republic-Jan Ki Baat survey. That's an improvement over the 47 seats it had won in the previous assembly polls.

Congress is expected to win between 15 and 19 seats.

In Maharashtra, BJP’s alliance with Shiv Sena is expected to win in well over 220 seats.

The Congress-NCP duo is expected to see its seat share shrink.

BJP’s Manohar Lal Khattar is set to return to power in Haryana with 75 seats—a number he had earlier suggested that his party was confident of winning.

The Congress is expected to win 10 seats.

The survey also has high expectations for BJP in Maharashtra. It expects the saffron party to win 141 seats alone, just shy of the halfway mark of 144. The Shiv Sens too is expected to cross the 100-mark.

The BJP and Shiv Sena alliance is set to return to power with a simple majority, according to the India Today-Axis My India exit poll.

The Congress and NCP duo will get between 72-90 seats.

As polling in Maharashtra and Haryana draws to a close, the countdown to who will come out victorious in the first set of state elections after the 2019 Lok Sabha polls has begun.

At least four election research organisations will release their exit poll estimates after 6:30 PM. Exit polls, while having a patchy track record in predicting election winners, are still very closely followed by political watchers and stock market participants.

In Maharashtra, after publicly voicing differences for months, the Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena kept their National Democratic Alliance intact. So did the rival United Progressive Alliance duo—Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.

Early opinion polls had suggested that the NDA will comfortably retain power, banking on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The UPA, having being significantly weakened due to an exodus of leaders, is unlikely to make a dent.

In Haryana, though, things are more interesting. The state is poised for a four-way contest between the BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal, and the Jannayak Janta Party.

Here too, opinion polls have suggested BJP sweeping the state and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar returning to power. The Congress suffered a jolt ahead of the election after its state unit President Ashok Tanwar quit and declared his support for fledgling Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party—a breakaway faction of the INLD.

You can follow the exit polls live here.