Counting of votes kicked off Tuesday morning for 90 Assembly constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, marking the final stretch of an electoral journey that promises the union territory its first elected government since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. This is also the first assembly election in J&K since 2014. Also counting of votes began in Haryana.
As early trends emerged, Congress appeared to be in the lead in Haryana, pulling ahead on 24 seats compared to the BJP’s 19. Interestingly, ‘others’ are showing up on two seats based on initial postal ballot counts.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the race is tight, with the Congress-National Conference alliance tied at eight seats with the BJP, while the PDP has yet to make its mark.
The counting commenced at 8 am, starting with postal ballots before transitioning to votes cast through Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) half an hour later. Keep in mind, these are just early trends, and final results could shift significantly as the day unfolds.