 "Congress takes a U-turn, says will participate in exit poll debates today")
After announcing earlier that it would "boycott" shows around the exit poll results 2024, the Indian National Congress on Saturday took a U-turn and said that the INDIA bloc would now participate in these debates.
In a post on social media platform X, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said, "INDIA parties met and decided to expose the bjp and its ecosystem on the prefixed exit polls."
"After considering factors for and against participating in the exit polls, it has been decided by consensus that all the INDIA parties will participate in the exit poll debates on television this evening."
On Friday, Congress had announced that it would not participate in the debates around exit poll results, which are scheduled to be around later today. It said that the party would ‘happily’ participate in debates after June 4.
The decision had come a day after the last phase of Lok Sabha elections is being held. In reply, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) responded saying the Congress has already conceded defeat. The exit polls are likely to be released after 6.30 pm on Saturday.
Also Read
Exit poll results 2024: Why was Congress boycotting debates around it?
The announcement was made on Friday by Khera in a post on social media platform X. Khera wrote, “The Indian National Congress will not participate in the debates on ExitPolls. The purpose of any debate should be to inform the people. We will happily partake in debates from 4th June onwards.”
Later, Khera told news agency ANI that exit polls are a “meaningless speculation”.
“Why should we indulge in meaningless speculation just to increase the TRPs of channels or to there is some force? There are some forces which are involved in betting. Why should we be a part of that? Everybody knows who he or she has voted for,” he said.
“Parties will get to know how many votes they got on the 4th of June. Why should we speculate?.. We are poised to win this election. INDIA alliance will be forming the government after the 4 June.”
Sharp attack by BJP
After the announcement, BJP launched an attacked on the Congress’ decision and said that they had already conceded defeat.
“During the whole election, they kept campaigning that they were going to get the majority but they knew the situation that in the coming exit polls, it would be their massive defeat so they can't face the media. Therefore, they are boycotting the entire exit poll exercise,” Home Minister Amit Shah told ANI.
BJP president JP Nadda said that it was not ‘surprising’. “It doesn’t behove India’s grand old party to behave like a child, whose toy has been taken away. One expects a certain level of maturity from the largest political party in the Opposition,” he said.
Lok Sabha elections 2024 are being held in seven phases, in a six-week marathon from April 19 to June 1.
The first six phases of polling were held on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20 and May 25. Assembly polls have also been held in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Odisha is seeing simultaneous polls to Lok Sabha and assembly in the last four phases.
The counting of votes and the declaration of the result will be held on June 4.
(With agency inputs)