HOODA IS BACK IN THE GAME

Reducing the BJP's perfect 10 tally of 2019 to a 5-5 stalemate, the Congress sets the stage for an intense finale in the assembly polls later this year

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

IN a wake-up call for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), coming just months ahead of the assembly election in Haryana, its Lok Sabha tally in the state has dropped from a perfect 10 to just five. And, what’s more, the saffron party’s vote share has plummeted to 46.1 per cent from the 58 per cent it cornered in 2019, also falling short of the combined numbers of the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)—47.6 per cent—who took on the saffron juggernaut as part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).