With the BJP surging ahead of the Congress in Haryana after trailing in the initial rounds, the mood at the two party offices has dramatically changed in the past one hour. Multiple rounds of counting are still left and the picture can change any moment. Exit polls have predicted a Congress sweep in Haryana. Exit polls, though, have often got it wrong.

At 10.30 am, over two-and-a-half hours after counting began, the BJP is ahead in 47 out of 90 seats in Haryana Assembly. The Congress, which had started its celebrations early, is now leading in 36 seats, nine less than the BJP.

Earlier in the day, the Congress had started bursting crackers and distributing jalebis at their Delhi headquarters. With the tide turning in later rounds, the celebration shifted to the BJP headquarters. Media personnel were offered snacks and laddoos were brought out. In the Congress office, the mood has dampened, though party supporters stress they hope for a win.

Congress leaders, however, are still putting up a brave face. Party veteran Bhupinder Singh Hooda expressed confidence that the Congress is winning in Haryana. So did senior party leader Kumari Shelja.

If these numbers hold, it will be a hat-trick for the BJP in Haryana and its best-ever show in the politically-significant state.

In the last Assembly election in Haryana in 2019, the BJP won 40 seats, the Congress 31 and the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) 10. The BJP formed the government with the support of the JJP. This time, the JJP, no longer BJP’s ally, has suffered a setback.

Putting on a brave face despite counting trends see-sawing and tilting in the BJP’s favour after giving the Congress a comfortable lead, senior Congress leader and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has said his party will form a government in Haryana.

Speaking to reporters around 10.15 am, when the BJP was leading in 48 seats in Haryana – three over the halfway mark – Mr Hooda insisted that the Congress would get a majority on its own. When he was asked the question repeatedly, Mr Hooda maintained his stand, but his body language appeared to betray him.

The generally upbeat Congress leader appeared very neutral, even a little downcast, when he was asked about trends showing the BJP in the lead. “The Congress is going to form a government in the state. Only two or three rounds of counting have been completed. The reports we are getting are saying that the Congress will have a majority,” he said in Hindi.

Mr Hooda stressed that the Congress will not need any party’s support to form the government and when the same question was asked more than once, he appeared to snap, saying, “I have said it, how many times do you want me to say the same thing?” He admitted there are close contests in some seats but stressed that they would not stop the Congress from coming to power in Haryana. 

To a question on who would become the chief minister, given the fairly open jostling between him and senior leader Kumari Selja, Mr Hooda said the party would decide and gave the credit for the “victory” to the people of Haryana, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi and other senior leaders. 

Celebrations Pause

The Congress headquarters in New Delhi also saw the mood changing in a span of a few hours. After exit polls predicted a clear, comfortable victory for the Congress, celebrations started at the party headquarters in New Delhi even before the counting of votes began on Tuesday morning and gained tempo after initial trends pointed to the same result. They turned muted as the BJP started gaining seats and crossed the halfway mark in the leads. 

Should the leads hold, a loss in Haryana will be a major setback for the Congress, which had been talking of a resurgence after winning 99 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP was seen to be battling anti-incumbency and anger from farmers, sportspersons as well as aspirants for the armed forces, and experts are already saying that the Congress has managed to “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory”.