NEW DELHI:
Top leaders from parties in the opposition’s INDIA bloc will meet on June 1, the day when the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 will be held, according to reports.
The meeting has been called to review the elections and also discuss the coalition’s future course of actions. The results of Lok Sabha elections will be declared on June 4.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), seeking a record third term under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has set a target of winning 400 seats this election. The ruling alliance is challenged by the opposition parties led by the Congress under the banner of the INDIA bloc.
The meeting has been called just a day before Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal – out on interim bail since May 10– has to surrender himself in Tihar Jail in connection with now-scrapped Delhi government’s liquor policy.
Kejriwal, along with other top leaders in INDIA bloc, are also expected to attend the meeting.
Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) contested the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Congress party in Delhi, Gujarat, Goa, Chandigarh and Haryana. The two parties, however, are contesting the June 1 election for 13 seats of Punjab separately.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA, is an opposition front announced by the leaders of 28 parties to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The first meeting of the bloc was held in Patna, Bihar in June 2023. The Patna meeting was hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Later Kumar and his Janata Dal – United, however, switched sides to the NDA.
Elections to 486 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats was over by the end of phase 6 polling on Saturday.
