Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on Monday met at her Kalighat residence to discuss the possible steps that may be taken once the Lok Sabha poll results are out on May 23.
Almost every exit poll predicted a huge victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said that the BJP and its allies will form the next government at the Centre. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee however rubbished the exit poll reports and said she did not believe in them. She had tweeted yesterday right after the exit poll reports, “The game plan is to manipulate or replace thousands of EVMs through this gossip”.
Naidu is in Kolkata today and called on Banerjee, and said that he had requested her to reach Delhi for a meeting with the Election Commission. He said the Opposition parties are likely to meet the EC on Wednesday and present their concerns about the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Naidu also said that the EC should show transparency and asked why 50 per cent of the counting of slips from the VVPAT (Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail machines) is not being done. “Why is it being avoided?” he asked. He said that EVM manipulation was being talked about all over the world and every EVM should be attached to VVPAT machines.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and alliance partner Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati met in Lucknow and spoke about preparing for the next step ahead.
Yadav said that they would talk after the results on May 23. They are also likely to talk to various other opposition parties after the results. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has called a meeting on May 23, the day of the results.
