INDIA leaders to participate in exit poll debates

Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties on Saturday announced that they will participate in the exit poll debates on television on Saturday evening after the grouping's top leaders met and deliberated on the issue at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence.

Senior leaders of the Congress, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, the Communist Party of India, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray and the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Pawar met at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence on Saturday afternoon and held discussions, even as the last phase of polling was underway.

The development came a day after the Congress said it has decided not to participate in any Lok Sabha exit poll debates on television channels.

The party does not want to indulge in speculation and slugfest for TRP, it had said.

Congress's media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said INDIA bloc parties met and decided to expose the Bharatiya Janata artyP 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 (bloc) parties will participate in the exit poll debates on television this evening,' he said in a post on X.

On Friday, Khera had said people have cast their votes and their verdict has been secured.

'The results will be out on 4th June. Prior to that, we do not see any reason to indulge in speculation and slugfest for TRP,' he had said in a statement shared on X.

'The Indian National Congress will not participate in the debates on exit polls. The purpose of any debate should be to inform the people. We will happily partake in debates from June 4 onwards,' Khera had said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda had claimed on Friday that the Congress's decision to not participate in exit poll debates is the confirmation that the opposition party has conceded the Lok Sabha elections.

Taking a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Shah said in a statement that the Congress has been in a 'denial mode' since he began playing a key role in its affairs.