Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala refutes reports of his resignation

On Thursday, the chief of BJP’s Haryana unit and state minister, Subhash Barala dismissed reports which had indicated that he had resigned from his position. He termed it as a "rumour". This comes amidst the commencement of the counting process in Haryana. Currently, Barala is trailing behind the Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) candidate Devender Singh Babli in the Tohana constituency. 

As per the Election Commission of India figures, both the BJP and Congress are locked in a neck-to-neck fight to form the government. While Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is leading from the Karnal constituency, at least 7 ministers in his cabinet are trailing or have lost the election. These include Ram Bilash Sharma, Kavita Jain, Captain Abhimanyu, Karan Dev Kamboj, and Krishnan Lal Panwar.

Read: WATCH: JJP Cadre Celebrate In Jind As Haryana Election Results Unfold

The race to form the government 

While the BJP has declared its intention of staking a claim to form the government, Congress too has not been far behind. Sources indicate that all the legislators of the party would fly to Delhi. Reportedly, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has given the green signal to former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda to initiate talks with the JJP and the Independents. Already, Hooda has allegedly reached out to JJP chief Dushyant Chautala. There were rumours that Congress was contemplating offering the CM’s position to Chautala. However, the latter denied the reports and clarified that he would take a final decision on this matter only after the declaration of the final results. 

Read: Haryana: Losing, Abhay Chautala Says 'INLD Will Rise From 2% To 100%'

Assembly elections

The BJP, Congress, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and JJP were the key parties in the present election. As per the Election Commission of India figures, Haryana recorded a voter turnout of 68.47%. The total strength of the Haryana Assembly is 90, out of which 17 seats have been reserved for the SC category. In total, Haryana has 1.82 crore registered voters, out of which 1.7 lakh are service voters. 0.38 lakh ballot units, 0.25 lakh control units, and 0.27 lakh VVPATs were used in the state.

Read: Haryana: Cong's Adampur Leader Kuldeep Bishnoi Confident Of Victory

Read: Haryana Assembly Election Results 2019 LIVE: BJP-Congress Neck-to-neck