By IANS,
Chandigarh: Having emerged as the single largest party with 40 seats in the 90-member assembly Thursday, the Congress party in Haryana will have to rope in at least six legislators from outside to form the next government in the state.
Beginning its day with an expectation of a comfortable victory in the assembly poll, the Congress ended up in the evening with worries of mopping up numbers to claim a simple majority of 46 seats in the house.
The results were a dampener for the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government that opted for early assembly polls – seven months ahead of schedule – to cash in on its victory in the May Lok Sabha polls when it won nine of the 10 seats in the state. The Congress had won 67 seats in the February 2005 assembly poll.
Five ministers in the Hooda government as well as state Congress president Phool Chand Mullana lost the election Thursday. Those who lost were Finance Minister Birender Singh, Transport Minister Mange Ram Gupta, Education Minister A.C. Chaudhary, Industries Minister Lachhman Dass Arora and Cooperation Minister Meena Mandal.
However, the main opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) fared better than expected, winning 31 seats on its own. Its alliance partner, the Akali Dal, also made its debut in the Haryana assembly by winning the Kalanwali (reserved) seat.
The total count of the INLD-Akali Dal combine is now 32 seats. This is way above the INLD tally of just nine seats in the February 2005 poll.
A visibly happy INLD president Om Prakash Chautala asked Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia to call the opposition parties to form the next government in the state.
“People of Haryana have exposed the wrong-doings of the Hooda government. On moral grounds, the Hooda government should resign. We will form the next government,” Chautala told reporters.
Chief Minister Hooda admitted the results were not to his liking.
“Yes, the results are not as per our expectation. But the Congress is going to create history by forming a government in Haryana for the second term. We will examine why we ended up with fewer seats. The Congress will form the next government in Haryana.”
He claimed that it was for the first time since 1972 that a party government was being repeated in the state.
Party sources say that the less than emphatic victory it expected could impact Hooda’s claim to be chief minister with leaders like union minister Kumari Selja and Kiran Chaudhary gunning for him.
But Congress supporters nonetheless thronged Hooda’s house in Rohtak town to celebrate.
Hooda’s government got the previous assembly dissolved seven months ahead of schedule in August this year to seek early elections after the Congress won nine out of 10 Lok Sabha seats from the state in May.
The Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), floated by former chief minister Bhajan Lal and his son Kuldeep Bishnoi, bagged six seats in its debut assembly election.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got four seats while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) got only one seat.
Seven Independents, some of them Congress rebels, also won, officials said.
There were 1,222 candidates, including 68 women, in the fray.