Though the party has won only 40 seats in the 90-member Assembly, it has secured the support of seven rag-tag Independents to claim majority in the House. Besides, bargaining is also going on with the six-member Haryana Janhit Congress headed by Bhajan Lal-Kuldeep Bishnoi duo. While Hooda has welcomed unconditional support from any party, Kuldeep softening his earlier stand of extending conditional support has said that “we have decided to be part of the next government”. The party may merge with the Congress, with whom the father-son duo parted company as Bhajan Lal was denied Chief Ministership after the 2005 Congress victory. Making Bhajan Lal Chief Minister as a condition for its support will be unacceptable to the Congress which may, however, favourably consider its demands of Deputy Chief Ministership for Kuldeep Bishnoi and induction of Bhajan Lal in the Union cabinet or appointment as Governor.

The biggest shock the elections outcome has given to the Congress party is its unexpected failure to get a majority despite the generous sops and freebies given by Hooda during his four and a half years rule. The second shock has come in the form of its main adversary Chautala family-controlled Indian National Lok Dal emerging as a formidable opposition by securing 31 seats as against nine in 2005. Thirdly, the Congress's voting percentage has nosedived from 42.5 in 2005 to 35.1 now.

A number of factors are responsible for the surprising outcome of the poll. The over-confident Chief Minister and most commentators had predicted a clear majority for the Congress which Hooda claimed would be comfortable and others expecting it to get just over 50 seats against its impressive 2005 tally of 67. A high voltage publicity campaign the government's spin doctors had organized coupled with the lacklustre working of the PCC had induced a sense of complacency among the party workers depriving it of reliable feedback about the voters mood. Hooda's “Haryana Number One” campaign like NDA's “India Shining” campaign in 2004 did not pay electoral dividends.

Besides, dissensions in the ruling party with almost all senior party remaining busy in fighting their own electoral battles left no space for their campaigning in other areas.

The disunity among the main opposition parties INLD, BJP, Haryana Janhit Congress and BSP whose alliances with one or the other had proved to be short-lived was expected to benefit the Congress. But as these parties have communities-specific support bases, they cut into large sections of the support the Congress used to get from these communities.

On the other hand, realizing that elections were a do-or-die game for his INLD which has been miserably losing all the Assembly, Lok Sabha and byelections since 2004, the party supremo Om Parkash Chautala, known for his organizational capabilities embarked upon not only a more effective publicity campaign but also organized successful rallies which enthused and activated the party ranks and evoked very good response from the people. The response to the Congress rallies even of Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was lukewarm. The party's poll percentage also fell marginally - from 26.8 in 2005 to 25.8 in the just concluded elections.

The BJP which fought the elections both in 2005 and now without forming any alliance with any other party got four seats as against two in 2005 The BSP which had sharply increased its vote percentage in the Lok Sabha poll obviously in view of Mayawati staking her claim for the Prime Minister's office, could secure only one seat as against two in 2005 getting much reduced poll percentage.(IPA)