INDIA bloc meet underway to discuss strategy for counting day | Lok Sabha elections

Top leaders of the INDIA bloc held a meeting in Delhi on Saturday to discuss their strategy for the counting of votes on June 4, even as the TMC and PDP are set to skip the meeting.

Senior leaders of the Congress, CPI-M, CPI, DMK, AAP, RJD, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar) held a discussions at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence this afternoon.

TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had already said they will not attend the meeting as there are elections in the state, while PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti is likely to skip the meeting.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann attended the meeting, besides senior Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and K C Venugopal.

DMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said party leader T R Baalu participated in the meet.

"June 4th will mark the beginning of a new dawn for India. In today's meeting of INDIA bloc leaders, DMK will be represented by our party Treasurer and leader of DMK's Parliamentary Party, Thiru. T.R. Baalu avl," Stalin said in a post on 'X.' Kharge had said this was an informal meeting where they would only discuss what kind of preparations they should have on the day of counting and how people should be alert, whether it is about the EVMs or the use of Form 17C.

The meeting is only for discussing the counting preparations and the Congress has already told its state units to be alert about Form 17C.

People's Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said she was likely to skip the meeting due to personal reasons. "I may not go as my mom has undergone an eye surgery," she told PTI.

National Conference president Farooq Abdullah will attend the meet as he left Srinagar on Saturday morning.

The seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha elections is underway on Saturday, including in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.