Latest Updates at : 2.30 pm IST :
Maharastra:
Congress & Allies : 143
Shiv Sena & Allies : 92
MNS (Raj Thackrey): 13
Independents & Othres: 39
Total Seats: 288
Haryana:
Congress : 40
INLD: Leading 32
BJP : 4
HJCBL 6
Others : 8
Total Seats: 90
Arunachal Pradesh:
Congress: 42
BJP 3
NCP 6
TC 5
Others 4
Total Seats: 60
BJP Concedes Defeat in Maha, Pawar credits Congress policies for Win
Mumbai Oct 22 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday conceded defeat in Maharashtra, saying the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance needed to ponder why it lost the Oct 13 assembly elections.
State BJP secretary Vinod Tawade said the Shiv Sena and BJP would do a lot of "soul-searching".
State BJP chief Nitin Gadkari said the party had to accept defeat and look ahead.
Both the leaders spoke to mediapersons separately as early trends showed that the Congress and its ally the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) were poised to retain power in Maharashtra.
Pawar credits Congress policies for Maharashtra win
New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS) The central government's policies have helped in the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance's good showing in the Maharashtra elections, union agriculture minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar said here Thursday.
He added that a decision on the chief minister's post "would be taken by the Congress party" and he did not want any problems from his party on that front.
Pawar said the combine had done particularly well in rural areas. "Congress and NCP are doing very well and the response in rural Maharastra has been extremely good - there we have gotten more response than what was expected," Pawar told reporters as he left his residence here.
The NCP-Congress combine had leads in 135 seats of the 288 seat assembly in the state.
He attributed the success in elections to the Congress policies at the centre. "The Congress policy at the centre was implemented by our government in Maharashtra and was appreciated by the voters."
He also admitted that his party's individual performance was "impressive" and that critics who predicted that the party would fair poorly were wrong.
"NCP has fared well. We have a strong base team of youngsters who are working hard and the voting percentage of our party is impressive," Pawar said.
Discussing the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) denting the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party combine, he said: "We had expected them to get 10-12 seats."
Pawar justified his 'retirement options' saying that his party was "encouraging the younger generation". He said: "Our generation has the reponsibility of encouraging newer leadership."
Congress says it will form government in Maharashtra
Mumbai, Oct 22 (IANS) Maharashtra's ruling Congress party said Thursday that it was confident of retaining power, with early projections indicating it could touch the half-way mark in the 288-member assembly.
Election officials said the Congress and its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) were in the lead in 126 constituencies while the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were ahead in 99 constituencies.
Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) put up an impressive show in cosmopolitan Mumbai, weaning away traditional Shiv Sena votes.
The MNS contested 125 seats across Maharashtra. The party's heavyweight Bala Nandgaonkar was leading in Sewri in central Mumbai while Waman Mhatre could win in Thane district.
Congress Chief Minister Ashok Chavan told journalists that he was "quite hopeful" of forming a Congress-NCP government even as victory celebrations erupted outside Congress president Sonia Gandhi's house in New Delhi.
Chavan, who took over as chief minister following the Mumbai terror attack of November 2008, said he was sure the Congress would be the single largest party in the state.
Political analysts said the Congress-NCP alliance could end up with 141 seats in the Maharashtra assembly. Independents, rebels from major parties and smaller groups could corner over 40 seats.
Congress stalwarts were doing well across Maharashtra, and the Congress was also doing much better than the NCP, election officials said.
Among those leading were Ashok Chavan and Congress veteran Narayan Rane, Praniti Shinde and Amit Deshmukh, daughter and son of former chief ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde and Vilasrao Deshmukh respectively, NCP's Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal as well as Jayant Patil.
BJP leader Smriti Irani admitted that things were not looking rosy for her party, which fared poorly in Maharashtra.
"We are going through challenging times," she said. But she added that "there are many reasons to rethink" about the BJP's election strategies in Maharashtra.
Assembly Results: Congress Ahead in Three States
New Delhi, Oct 22 (PTI): Ruling Congress-NCP combine was ahead of Shiv Sena-BJP in Maharashtra, leading in over three dozen seats, according to initial trends available after counting for Assembly elections to three states began today.
Assembly Elections 2009In Haryana, Congress is leading in four seats while opposition INLD and BJP is ahead in one each seat, while in Arunachal Pradesh ruling Congress was ahead in six seats.
In Maharashtra, having a total of 228 seats, Congress-NCP combine is ahead in 37 seats while the opposition coalition is ahead in 34 seats.Raj Thackeray-led MNS and the Third Front were leading at one seat each.
Shiv Sena candidate Kedari Raibage leads Varsha Gaikwad of Congress in Mumbai's Dharavi constituency while Congress candidates are leading in Shahada (Dhule) and Solapur. Those leading include Industry minister Narayan Rane (Kudal) and Union minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's daughter Praniti (Solapur).
Stakes are high in Maharashtra, where there are several chief ministerial aspirants. Rivals Shiv Sena and its offshoot MNS are fighting for the same political space and the ruling Congress-NCP combine is aiming a hat-trick. There are 1,820 independents, mostly party rebels, in fray. The Congress has been ruling the state for the last 10 years in alliance with the NCP.