UPA chairperson and senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Monday said her party is very hopeful that the results of the Lok Sabha elections will be totally opposite to what has been shown in the exit polls. "We have to wait, just wait and see," Sonia said when asked about her expectations from the results scheduled to be announced on Tuesday.
Congress leaders have said that the INDIA Bloc will win 295 seats and form the Government. Preparations were underway at the Congress headquarters on Monday for the June 4 counting day with many supporters seeing them as arrangements for celebration of the INDIA Bloc's victory in the Lok Sabha polls despite exit polls suggesting otherwise.
Tent-poles have been erected in the grounds of the Congress' 24, Akbar Road headquarters and giant coolers were being set up around its sprawling premises.
"We are very hopeful that our results are completely opposite to what the exit polls are showing," the Congress parliamentary party chief added. Sonia Gandhi made the remarks after attending an event held at the DMK office here. She paid tributes to DMK stalwart M Karunanidhi on his 100th birth anniversary.
Most exit polls have predicted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will retain power for a third straight term, with the BJP-led NDA expected to win a big majority in the Lok Sabha polls. While some exit polls have given the NDA more than 400 seats, most have predicted that it will win over 350, which is way above the majority mark of 272 seats needed to form the Government.
The Congress and other INDIA Bloc parties have trashed the exit polls, claiming that these surveys were a work of "fantasy" and asserting that the opposition alliance will form the next Government.
Further, the Congress led INDIA Bloc on Monday said the Election Commission (EC) has agreed to its request of counting the postal ballots first on June 4, when the results of the Lok Sabha polls are scheduled to be declared, and stressed that this is the participatory manner of promoting the spirit of democracy in a non-adversarial fashion.
Leaders from the INDIA Opposition Bloc had urged the EC on Sunday to ensure that on June 4, the postal ballots are counted and their results declared before the outcome of the EVMs is announced, and said the poll panel should issue clear guidelines on the counting process and ensure that those are implemented.
A delegation of leaders from the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), including the Congress's Abhishek Singhvi, met the full bench of the EC on Sunday, ahead of Tuesday's counting of the votes polled in the Lok Sabha election.
In a letter to the EC, the INDIA Bloc leaders had said the number of postal ballots had gone up significantly in this Lok Sabha election as senior citizens (aged 85 years and above) and differently-abled persons were allowed to cast their votes through this process.
They quoted various rules and guidelines of the EC, including provisions of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 and Handbook for Returning Officer and Counting Agents (August 2023), that said the counting of postal ballots shall be done first.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav questioned the veracity of exit polls on Monday and claimed the agencies conducting them were only trying to create a conducive atmosphere in favour of the BJP. "Our exit poll says that the INDIA Bloc is winning the maximum number of seats in Uttar Pradesh. I have got an internal survey done that also shows good numbers for us," he said at a Press conference in Lucknow.
