CHANDIGARH/NEW DELHI: BJP 's response to what seemed to be very strong anti-incumbency working against the Manohar Lal Khattar-led BJP-JJP coalition govt started early, even before the Lok Sabha polls, and was ruthless: it dropped its CM (in March), who had been at the helm for nine and a half years, and JJP, its ally of over four years, to appoint Nayab Singh Saini as CM. Saini (54), who like Khattar has an RSS background, belongs to an OBC community. This led to a consolidation of non-Jat votes that pushed BJP ahead of Congress in Haryana this assembly election.
BJP hasn't just notched its highest seat tally, it has also bagged its best vote share of 39.9%, beating the Modi wave performance of 2014 when it first formed govt in Haryana on its own. Its vote share then was 6 percentage points lower.
BJP had made clear that Saini would lead the party to the assembly polls as it focused on consolidation of non-Jat votes under its OBC leader. The Jat votes got split and INLD candidates hurt Congress nominees in many Jat heartland seats. Haryana Jammu & Kashmir Haryana Alliance View i Party View Seats: 90 Results Majority: 46 BJP 48 CONG 37 INLD 2 AAP 0 OTH 3 Results : 90 / 90 BJP WON Jammu & Kashmir Alliance View i Party View Seats: 90 Results Majority: 46 JKNC 42 BJP 29 CONG 6 PDP 3 OTH 10 Results : 90 / 90 HUNG ASSEMBLY Source: PValue BJP leaders involved in the polls said the appointment of an OBC CM had allowed them to successfully win back a section of Dalits who had voted a.
