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Updated: Oct 24, 2019 09:07 IST

Dushyant Chautala said on Thursday his Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) will emerge as a kingmaker as neither the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nor the Congress will be able to cross 40 seats as counting of votes for the Haryana assembly election began.

“Na BJP, na Congress 40 par karegi. Satta ki chabhi JJP (Jannayak Janata Party) ke haanth mein hogi (Neither the BJP nor the Congress will be able to cross the 40-seat mar. The JJP will hold the key to power),” Dushyant Chautala said, according to news agency ANI.

Voting for the 90-member Haryana assembly took place on October 21 in the first electoral test for the BJP since the April-May general elections. Most exit polls predicted that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would perform better in the state than it did in 2014.

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In Haryana, most exit polls said the BJP will get anywhere between 55 and 75 seats, with the Congress securing 15-20. The only exception was the India Today-Axis exit poll that predicted a close fight between the BJP and the Congress in Haryana and that it could have a hung assembly.

The survey by India Today-Axis My India also suggested that the Dushyant Chautala-led JJP, a breakaway faction of the once prominent Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), may win 6-10 seats and could play a crucial role in the government formation.

The BJP got 46 seats in the 90 member house and the opposition Congress 15 and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) 20 seats in 2014. Many of the INLD legislators joined the BJP before elections and some were fielded by the JJP.

The 31-year-old Dushyant, a former MP from Hisar, was in the fray from Uchana Kalan against sitting BJP MLA Prem Lata, who is the wife of former Union minister Birender Singh. Prem Lata had defeated him in the 2014 assembly elections by 7,480 votes.

Chautala, son of former parliamentarian Ajay Chautala and grandson of INLD president Om Prakash Chautala, floated the JJP last year after he was expelled from the INLD along with his father and younger brother.

The Uchana segment falls in the Hisar Lok Sabha constituency, with limited education and employment opportunities being the key poll issues. Several areas of the region also face a water shortage.

A Jat dominated seat, the constituency also has members of Scheduled Caste (SC), Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Brahmin communities.