India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appeared on course for a surprise win on Tuesday in polls in the northern state of Haryana, but was trailing the opposition in the first elections in a decade in troubled Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir.

The BJP is in the lead in the state of Haryana which borders the capital Delhi, but trails in the federal territories of Jammu and Kashmir, which are seeing their first election results in a decade. The first local elections in India since Mr Modi’s party lost its outright majority in parliament,

PM Narendra Modi accused Congress and its allies of joining international conspiracies to destabilize India and tarnish its institutions. He claimed Congress sought to divide the nation and undermine democracy.

Congress workers and other party workers distributed sweets outside Congress office as the counting of votes for the Haryana Elections and Jammu & Kashmir Assembly Election is underway on October 08.

Since it has a majority in the state house and leads on 49 seats, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to hold onto power in Haryana. The latest figures from the Election Commission show that the Congress is lagging with leads on 35 seats.