Ahead of the May 23rd vote counting and with the exit poll results out, that have given the BJP led NDA a thumping majority, representatives of opposition parties have finished their meeting in Delhi to discuss their future plans. The meeting happened at the Constitution Club, News Delhi.
They also met EC officials and it was decided that they will meet again tomorrow to consider the 2 prime issues.
. @DrAMSinghvi, @INCIndia after opposition’s meeting with EC: We raised these same issues in last 1.5 months. We asked EC why have they not responded. Strangely, EC heard us for almost an hr&they assured us they’ll meet again tomorrow morning to consider primarily these 2 issues pic.twitter.com/7I5B0F8WLl
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) May 21, 2019
The leaders also met Election Commission officials regarding the EVM’s. The meeting lasted 1.5 hours.
Today 22 parties of the opposition had meeting in the afternoon that lasted for 1.5 hours. The discussion was on EVMs and the Election Commission has said they will decide after a meeting: Senior @INCIndia leader #GhulamNabiAzad pic.twitter.com/AElgs4aKgV
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) May 21, 2019
Delhi: Opposition leaders arrive at Election Commission, to meet EC officials over EVMs pic.twitter.com/FxYToiER5C
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) May 21, 2019
They will be pressing their demand of tallying the VVPAT slips with EVM figures.
Opposition leaders will be pressing their demand of tallying VVPAT slips with EVM figures in an entire Assembly constituency in case a discrepancy is found in any polling booth. https://t.co/5bDlk8rPMY
— NewsMobile (@NewsMobileIndia) May 21, 2019
Even though the opposition termed the exit poll predictions as mere gossip, the pressure is definitely on them to ensure they have the requisite numbers in their kitty through alliances.
As per sources, the meeting was held at the Constitution Club here at 1.30 p.m. and attended by senior leaders from the Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI, CPI-M, AAP, NCP, National Conference, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, DMK, Janata Dal-Secular and the TDP.
Chandrababu Naidu has been spearheading the bringing together of all the parties for a few days now. From UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal to CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury, he has met almost all the leaders of the opposition parties.
He also met BSP chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata too.
Sources also tell that one of the high points of the meeting today will be the reiteration of the demand for the VVPAT count with the EVM’s.
We had earlier reported that Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, Naidu, Yechury, Congress leaders Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Ahmed Patel along with representatives of other parties were expected to be part of the EC meeting before the results come out on May 23.
Singhvi, who was involved in the plea before the Supreme Court (SC) seeking directions to the EC to compulsorily tally VVPAT count with EVMs during the May 23 counting, said, “The 21 opposition parties, who represent 75% of the electorate, had signed the affidavit in that case. And now, all these parties will go together to the EC on five major issues, signalling our political intent to not give up the fight.”
He maintained that despite the EC’s assurance to the apex court, the poll watchdog has not come out with any guideline or rule on what to do if there is a discrepancy between VVPAT and the EVM counts.
On April 8, SC told the EC to match the paper slips of at least five EVMs in all assembly segments of a Lok Sabha seat to ensure higher transparency. This is for the first time that VVPATs were used in all Lok Sabha seats.