Congress Reverses Stance, Announces Participation in Exit Poll Debates

Reversing its previous stance, Congress announced on Saturday that it will participate in exit poll debates on television channels as polling for the final phase of Lok Sabha elections concluded. “INDIA parties met and decided to expose the BJP and its ecosystem on the prefixed exit polls,” Congress leader Pawan Khera said in a social media post on X. He added that the decision was made after “considering factors for and against participating in the exit polls.” Khera also added that the polls were meaningless speculations.

The party had earlier drawn flak from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which claimed that Congress had already conceded the elections. The saffron party asked voters not to waste their votes in the seventh and last phase of the polls on Saturday, as Congress usually opts out when it doesn’t expect favorable results.

Earlier on Saturday, the Congress-led INDIA bloc conducted a significant strategy meeting. The gathering took place at the Delhi residence of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge. Senior leaders, including Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh from the Aam Aadmi Party, CPM’s Sitaram Yechury, National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, and others, had already arrived.