Chandigarh, Oct 8 : As the BJP seems set to return to power in Haryana for the third consecutive term, the Congress, which was projected to win by every exit poll, will be searching for answers to find where it fell short.

Among these will be a check on whether the Aam Aadmi Party, which contested on its own in 88 of the state's 90 seats after seat-sharing talks failed, had dented its chances.

However, going by vote figures, it does not seem that the Arvind Kejriwal-led party performed well at all in Haryana, let alone affecting the Congress' chances, with most of the AAP candidates' votes confined to low four figures, and even three figures in most cases.

The Congress defeat owes more to the votes swept up by Independent candidates for various stripes, rather than its AAP rivals, as per the figures in a representative 10 per cent selection of seats, both high-profile and ordinary, where the results have been declared.

In Ambala Cantt, outspoken BJP leader and former minister Anil Vij retained the seat by a margin of 7,277 votes. While Vij secured 59,858 votes, the runner-up was Independent Chitra Sarwara with 52,581 votes. Congress candidate Parvinder Pal Pari was a poor third with 14,469 votes. AAP's Raj Kaur Gill ended up with only 524 votes.

Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini won the Ladwa seat of Kurukshetra by a margin of 16,054 votes, securing 70,177 votes against his Congress rival Mewa Singh's 54,123. Independent candidate Vikranjeet Singh Cheema came third with 11,191 votes, while AAP's Joga Singh Umri was in sixth place with just 632 votes.

In the Safidon seat of Jind, BJP candidate Ram Kumar Gautam, who had switched over from the Jannayak Janata Party before the elections, defeated sitting Congress MLA Subhash Gangoli by a margin of 4,037 votes. The Congress candidate's loss can be ascribed more to 20,114 and 8,807 votes taken, respectively, by Independents Jasbir Deswal and Bachan Singh Arya. AAP's Nisha Deswal was way down with a mere 183 votes.

In the high-profile Tosham seat of Bhiwani, Shruti Choudhry, who had switched over from the Congress to the BJP, won the seat by a margin of 14,257 votes over her Congress rival Anirudh Chaudhry. His defeat was more to the 15,859 that flowed to Independent Shashi Ranjan Parmar, than the 519 votes that went to AAP's Daljit Singh.

BJP's Mukesh Sharma polled 122,615 votes to win the Gurgaon seat, defeating his closest rival, Independent Naveen Goyal by a margin of 68,045 votes. Congress candidate Mohit Grover was third with 46,947 votes and the AAP's Nishant Anand a distant fourth with just 2,177 votes.

In Faridabad, BJP's Vipul Goel won by a huge margin of 48,388 votes over Congress' Lakhan Kumar Singla. Pravesh Mehta of AAP was third - with 926 votes, even less than the 1,025 NOTA votes.

Congress state chief Chaudhry Udai Bhan lost the Hodal (SC) seat in neighbouring Palwal district to BJP's Harvinder Singh by 2,595 votes. Independents Naveen Rohila (2,077 votes) and Sunita Sorout (546) swung the balance more than Indian National Lok Dal candidate Sunil Kumar's 1,838 votes or AAP nominee Manohar's 292.

In Hansi seat of Hisar, where Vinod Bhayana of the BJP romped home by a margin of 21,460 votes over Congress rival Rahul Makkar, the 2,333 votes secured by AAP's Rajendra Singh were immaterial in changing the outcome.

However, in Uchana Kalan seat of Jind, where Devender Chatarbhuj Attri of the BJP romped home by just 32 votes over Congress' Brirjendra Singh, while JJP chief and former Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala came fifth with 7,950 votes, the 2,495 votes of AAP candidate Pawan Fauji may have played a role.

As per the EC, the AAP secured 1.79 per cent vote share in Haryana, as against the BJP's 39.94 per cent and the Congress' 39.09 per cent.

/IANS