Chandigarh, October 22:The ruling Congress in Haryana made early gains Thursday as thousands of votes cast in the assembly elections were counted across the state.
More than one hour after the vote count began, the Congress led in over half of the 40 seats where early trends were available.
But the main opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) was faring better than expected, officials said.
Counting of votes began Thursday morning to pick a new 90-member Haryana assembly.
The fate of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda (Congress), Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief and former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala and Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) president and former MP Kuldeep Bishnoi will be decided Thursday.
There were 1,222 candidates, including 68 women, in the fray.
–Agencies