BJP 1, NC-Cong 1, pollsters 0: Swings momentum back in BJP's favour ahead of slew of state battles

EC began counting of votes for the Assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday at 8 AM. This is the first significant electoral outcome following the recent Lok Sabha elections where BJP returned to power with the support of its allies.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headed for a surprise election victory in Haryana state on Tuesday, reinforcing its popularity in the northern heartland a few months after stumbling in national elections.

The BJP is in the lead in the state of Haryana which borders the capital Delhi, but trails in the federal territories of Jammu and Kashmir, which are seeing their first election results in a decade. The first local elections in India since Mr Modi’s party lost its outright majority in parliament,

India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appeared on course for a surprise win on Tuesday in polls in the northern state of Haryana, but was trailing the opposition in the first elections in a decade in troubled Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir.

Opposition parties seeking the restoration of autonomy in volatile Indian-administered Kashmir have edged out the party of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the first regional election since New Delhi imposed direct rule five years ago.

Odisha Government Minister Prithviraj Harichandan expressed confidence regarding the Haryana Assembly election trends, stating, "We are fully assured that our government will be formed in Haryana. The good governance and double-engine government have no match,