COUNTING of votes for Maharashtra & Haryana assembly polls is on Thursday

WITH most of the pollsters predicting that BJP along with Shiv Sena is returning to power in Maharashtra & the ruling BJP is set to win massively in Haryana, counting of votes of the two state assembly elections will be taken up tomorrow morning. Most of the leads will be available by Thursday noon. Majority of the exit polls indicate victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party which fought elections amidst economic meltdown, unemployment problem and rural distress. In Maharashtra, an aggregate of various exit polls gave the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance 211 out of 288 seats in the state legislative assembly. In Haryana, the pollsters  predicted the BJP is likely to win 66 of  the 90 seats in the state assembly The  major parties in Maharashtra are the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress party (NCP).In Maharashtra ,INC   and NCP ,its major ally, are  faced mass  exodus of several senior leaders before poll to BJP and Shiv Sena besides  infighting  among senior Congress   leaders. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, his nephew Ajit Pawar and another senior leader  Praful Patel are accused of   corruption  charges filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) . BJP carried a high-powered campaign with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief and union minister Amit Shah,Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and  youthful  Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis  addressing   multiple rallies across the western state -Shiv Sena alliance 211 of the state’s 288 seats and the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) just 64 constituencies. The voter turnout however was not up to the expectation. Among the prominent leaders who have contested Haryana assembly polls are Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, his predecessor Bhupindar Singh Hooda, JJP’s Dushyant Chautala, and INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala. The star campaigner for the Congress was Rahul Gandhi. He accused the Narendra Modi led NDA government of total failure on economic front, favouring handpicked of corporate houses and revoking special status from Jammu & Kashmir under Article 370.  The government and media were distracting people’s attention from the real danger facing the nation, he added at several rallies in Haryana and Maharashtra (edited by PK Chakravarty).