In tit-for-tat moves, Congress-led INDIA bloc and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sent delegations to the Election Commission on Sunday. After the Congress-led delegation demanded that postal ballots be counted first and their results declared before the outcome of EVM counting is revealed, the BJP delegation submitted before the panel that the Opposition has been attempting to undermine the integrity of India’s electoral process.
The exit polls, released on Saturday, predicted larger-than-ever BJP victory in the Lok Sabha elections, with three pollsters claiming the ruling alliance may even surpass its ambitious target of 400 seats.
The BJP delegation today submitted memorandum, signed by ministers Piyush Goyal and Nirmala Sitharaman, to the Election Commission (EC).
“We had to call upon the Election Commission today in light of the repeated attempts by a section of political parties, like the Congress and their INDI alliance partners, and also by certain motivated civil society groups and NGOs who are trying their level best to undermine the integrity of India’s electoral process,” Goyal said.
The BJP delegation urged the Election Commission to ensure robust security measures to prevent “violence or unrest” on June 4.
Goyal said the likelihood of a massive mandate to the BJP has unnerved the Opposition.
The Congress has dismissed the exit poll results as a “deliberate attempt to justify rigging”. It has alleged that the exit polls are part of “psychological games” being played by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lower the morale of the INDIA bloc workers.
The INDIA bloc leaders, meanwhile, demanded from the poll panel that the Election Commission should issue clear guidelines on the counting process and ensure that those are implemented.
Also read: Ten key takeaways from the elections
“This is the third multi-party delegation visiting the EC during this process…. We spent time with the EC on two-three major issues. Most important was counting the postal ballots and declaring the results first. This is a very clearly stated statutory rule, which specifically says that you should take up the postal ballots first,” said Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
Opposition often accuses the Narendra Modi government of rigging EVMs to generate favourable results in Lok Sabha and assembly polls. The BJP and the poll panel have on several occasions refuted the charge.
The exit polls claimed the BJP will register significant gains in southern states, West Bengal and Odisha. It will also pull off landslide victories in Hindi heartland states, Bihar and Gujarat.
In 2019, the BJP-led NDA had won 353 seats.
This time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set a steep target of 400 seats for the ruling alliance.
With inputs from PTI
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