India's BJP retains power in Haryana state for 3rd term

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday won elections in northern Haryana state for the third straight term, official results showed.

According to the Election Commission of India, the BJP won 48 out of 90 seats, while the opposition Indian National Congress party won 36 and is leading in another.

Indian National Lok Dal party and two independent candidates won the remaining five seats.

Modi thanked the people of Haryana for “giving a clear majority to the Bharatiya Janata Party once again.”

“This is the victory of the politics of development and good governance. I assure the people here that we will leave no stone unturned to fulfill their aspirations,” he wrote on X.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, however, said “results in Haryana are totally unexpected, completely surprising, and counterintuitive.”

“It goes against ground reality—what the people of Haryana had made up for, which was for change and transformation,” he said.

Most of the exit polls proved wrong as they had given an edge to the Congress party in the state elections.