Leaders of Opposition parties, including the Congress, will meet Election Commission (EC) officials on Tuesday afternoon, pressing their demand of tallying voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) and electronic voting machine (EVM) during the counting of votes on Thursday.
The parties took a call on the move after exit polls on Sunday predicted victory for the BJP and its allies.
On Monday, Naidu met West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and continued his efforts to cobble a non-BJP coalition post-poll.
In recent past, Naidu had met various leaders including Congress President Rahul Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, among others.
The delegation is likely to include Ahmed Patel and Abhishek Manu Singhvi of the Congress, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Sharad Pawar of NCP, Satish Chandra Misra of the Bahujan Samaj Party, Yechury of Communist Party of India (Marxist), D Raja of Communist Party of India (CPI) and Derek O’Brien of the TMC are expected to meet the EC
Another key opposition leader, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had said in a tweet
“Entire Opposition political parties had expressed concern over credibility of EVMs under PM @narendramodi’s rule. Opposition parties even knocked the doors of the Supre Court asking for a traditional ballet paper elections to avoid defective EVMs that are vulnerable to fraud,” Kumaraswamy tweeted.
Kumaraswamy further said, “Exit polls are being used to create an impression that there is still a Modi wave in the country. This artificially engineered or manufacutred Modi wave is being used by the BJP to lure regional parties well in advance to fill any shortfall after the results on May 23.”
“The entire exit poll exercise was an effort to create false impression of a wave in favour of one particular leader and the party. As they say, it is just an exit poll, not exact poll,” he tweeted.
