In a light-hearted exchange with reporters on Sunday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi referred to Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala’s track “295” when asked about the number of seats the INDIA bloc would secure in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Gandhi quipped, “Sidhu Moose Wala ka song suna hai aapne?” (Have you heard Sidhu Moose Wala’s song?), before answering “295 seats.”
Commenting on the exit polls, Gandhi dismissed them as “Modi media polls” and described them as Prime Minister Modi’s “fantasy poll.” The Congress party held a strategy meeting on Sunday with its Lok Sabha candidates to prepare for the counting day on June 4. After the meeting, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal expressed confidence, stating, “This exit poll is a bogus poll for the government. The INDIA alliance will get 295 seats and certainly form the government.”
The INDIA bloc delegation is scheduled to meet the Election Commission today at 4:30 pm at Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi. Earlier in the day, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also dismissed the exit poll projections, labelling them as a “psychological game.”
“The outgoing PM has conspired to manage the exit polls. There will be a huge difference between the exit polls and the results on June 4. The INDIA alliance had a detailed discussion yesterday, and it is impossible that we will get anything below 295 seats,” Ramesh asserted.
According to the India Today-Axis My India exit polls, the NDA is projected to win between 361-401 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, while the INDIA bloc is expected to secure 131-166 seats. The Republic PMarq exit poll predicts 359 out of 543 seats for the NDA, 154 for the INDIA bloc, and 30 for others. Similarly, the Republic Matrize poll forecasts 353-368 seats for the NDA, 118-133 for the INDIA bloc and 43-48 for other parties. The NewsX Dynamics poll gives 371 seats to the NDA, 125 to the INDIA bloc, and 47 to others.
