Election Results 2024: On Rahul Gandhi’s stock market scam allegation, BJP says Congress trying to create fear among investors

The JD(U) on Thursday added review of the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme to its list of expectations from the new NDA government, apart from four ministerial berths. The party may also push for its long-standing demand of special status for Bihar, now that it is set to be a part of the government at the Centre.

Asked about the JD(U)’s remarks regarding Agnipath, another NDA ally, Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), told NDTV in an interview: “Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) has said the platform is open for discussions. I believe that we must discuss how much we could deliver through Agniveer, because this is something related to the youths of our country. A review must be done. But these things can be kept on hold… Government formation is happening and, after that, we can discuss these things.”

With the BJP relying on its allies, and JD(U) being one of them, the party's demand for special category status (SCS) for Bihar has again gained momentum.

SCS to Bihar has been a long-standing demand of Kumar, whose Bihar cabinet had last year even passed a resolution requesting the Centre to grant the status to the state.

After Rahul Gandhi alleged stock market manipulation around exit polls, BJP leader Piyush Goyal reacted to the accusations, saying the Congress leader has not yet overcome the party's loss in the Lok Sabha elections and is trying to mislead the market investors by such statements. "Rahul Gandhi has still not overcome the loss in the Lok Sabha Elections. Now, he is conspiring to mislead the market investors. Today, India has become the fifth-largest economy..."

Vishal Patil, Independent Candidate who won Sangli Constituency, joined Congress on Thursday.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Thursday demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the rise and fall in the stock market around the time exit poll results were announced. 

Rahul Gandhi puts forth questions on stock market transactions on May 30 and 31 (Day of exit polls)"

1. Why did the Prime Minister, Home Minister give investment advice to 5 crore families? Is it their job to give investment advise?

2. Why these interviews of were given to the same media house, owned by the same business group, which is also under SEBI investigation for manipulating stock market?

3. What is the connection between the BJP, the fake pollsters, and dubious foreign investors who invested one day before the exit polls were announced and made a huge profit at the cost of 5 crore families?"

"We demand a JPC into this, we are absolutely convinced that this is a scam," Gandhi said.

Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait has said whoever forms the government at the Centre should keep space for dialogue open with farmers. "'Andolan' (protest) arises when there are problems in the country. We want that whoever forms the government, they should keep space for talks open," PTI quoted Tikait as telling reporters in Muzaffarnagar.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony is likely to take place on the evening of June 9, according to sources. Earlier, the ceremony was slated to take place on June 8, but now it may be held at 6 pm on Sunday. World leaders including Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and Nepal PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal are set to attend the function, which will record a presence of over 8,000 dignitaries.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde Thursday met newly-elected MPs from his Shiv Sena. All of the seven winners from the Shiv Sena -- Shrikant Shinde, Prataprao Jadhav, Naresh Mhaske, Dharyasheel Mane, Ravindra Waikar Sandipan Bhumre, and Shrirang Barne -- met the chief minister at his official residence 'Varsha'.

NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule who won the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency defeating her sister-in-law and NCP candidate Sunetra Pawar Thursday said the election has shown that voters rejected the "repression" of central agencies.  "In this election, the voters of the state rejected the `ICE' (Income Tax, CBI and Enforcement Directorate) and their repression, and it is the real strength of Maharashtra," PTI quoted Sule as saying.

Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule has claimed the Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders misled and confused the people of the state to win the Parliamentary elections. "The MVA won through 'Shakuni neeti' (Machiavellian policy), but this election result would not have an impact on the upcoming polls and people will vote in the name of development and not casteism," the BJP leader said while speaking to reporters at Nagpur airport.

Newly elected Samajwadi Party MP from Faizabad Awadhesh Prasad Thursday said the BJP party is not the "real" Ram Bhakt, and accused it of doing politics with his name and cheating the people.

Prasad defeated BJP's Lallu Singh, by 54,567 votes in Uttar Pradesh's Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency, where a grand Ram temple was set up in Ayodhya, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the consecration ceremony on January 22.

"The BJP did politics in the name of Ayodhya. They have worked against the dignity of Maryada Purushottam Ram," Prasad was seen telling PTI-Videos.

LJP leader Chirag Paswan said the NDA allies accepted Narendra Modi's leadership once again in yesterday's meeting, without any conditions. 

"...My PM is going to be the Prime Minister of the country for the third time. All NDA leaders had a meeting yesterday...Nobody can deny that this victory of the NDA is the victory of the leadership of the Prime Minister. NDA received this thumping majority only due to him. Sometimes, we set such a huge target for ourselves that if there is even a little lapse, questions start being raised. In reality, it is no ordinary thing that the NDA has received the mandate for the third time...In yesterday's meeting, all NDA allies accepted his leadership once again without any conditions..." he said while speaking to ANI.

A quick look at Bengal: BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikari has written to the West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose requesting him to take a tour of the areas affected by post-poll violence.

After Congress candidate Kishori Lal Sharma defeated Union Minister Smriti Irani in Amethi, his daughter Anjali hit back at the BJP leader, saying that she may call her father a peon or servant but the results are in front of her.

In a thumping victory, Sharma wrested back Congress from BJP with a margin of over 1.67 lakh votes. In a video doing rounds on the internet, Sharma’s daughter is heard saying, “Smriti Irani can call my father anything, peon, proxy, servant, ant whatever but numbers are in front of us.”

Amid talks over Cabinet formation, all NDA MPs will meet at 11 am on Friday in the central hall of Parliament. Along with the NDA leaders, some Chief Ministers, deputy Chief Ministers, office bearers of the party allies are also invited.

Awadhesh Prasad, SP leader who snatched Faizabad seat from the BJP told PTI, "Bharatiya Janata Party did politics in the name of Ayodhya. BJP has destroyed the dignity of 'Maryada Purshottam Ram'. There is inflation, there are no jobs in their (BJP's) rule. They have disrespected our jawans, farmers."

Prasad trumped the BJP’s two-time sitting MP Lallu Singh by 54,567 votes, riding on Dalit votes that earlier used to go to the Congress in Faizabad.

Narendra Modi has successfully led the nation for a decade. He has made himself the most important face in the minds of a large section of the people and the media. People believed that in his third election too, he would be back with a majority, surpassing the previous numbers of 2014 and 2019. The “400 par” mantra was chanted over and over. Perhaps it started to ring true to his followers and the media as the PM crisscrossed the nation, addressing rallies everyday, declaring himself to be no ordinary biologically-born mortal.

After all, who was there in the Opposition that was comparable to his calibre? Which party was as wealthy, as well structured, and as well advertised? The accounts of the major Opposition party were frozen and a couple of Opposition state chief ministers were arrested. The post-poll exit polls gave the NDA a comfortable majority. Some even predicted it would touch the 400 mark. Among the moderates and the Opposition, it created an air of despondency, concerns over the continuance of authoritarianism and the spread of communalism. Read more

Every election verdict is part statistics, part interpretation. The game of numbers is cut in stone; the realm of interpretation is anything but. The following question is worth posing. Just what do the 2024 national election results signify?

There are three serious interpretive candidates (and possibly some more, if imagination can be deployed further). The first is that the results are a massive disapproval of the prime minister’s hubris, especially though not only epitomised by his public statement that he was not biologically produced, but was chosen and sent by “parmatma” (God) to accomplish a divinely ordained mission. This statement in May followed his consecration of the Ram temple in January, where priests played a wholly subsidiary role and India’s Prime Minister, occupying the highest office of a non-theocratic state, placed himself at the centre of a religious ceremony. Read more

After the Lok Sabha election results are out, an analysis done by think tank PRS has revealed that the average age of MPs elected to the 18th Lok Sabha is 56 years, a slight dip from 59 years. According to the analysis, 11 percent of the MPs are aged 40 or below and 38 percent are between the age of 41 and 55. 

About 52 per cent of the MPs are aged above 55 and the oldest MP is 82 years old. The Samajwadi Party's Pushpendra Saroj and Priya Saroj became the youngest candidates to win the Lok Sabha polls at the age of 25, while the DMK's T R Baalu (82) was the oldest candidate to win.

With PTI inputs

The list of candidates who won the Lok Sabha Elections will be handed over to President Droupadi Murmu by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu on Thursday evening. Afterwards, the official process to constitute the 18th Lok Sabha will begin.

Murmu had ordered the dissolution of the previous Lok Sabha on Wednesday and Narendra Modi is heading for his third term as NDA MPs elected him as their leader yesterday.

With PTI inputs

Following sweeping victory in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav thanked people of Ayodhya. In a video shared by ANI on X, Yadav said 'The truth is that the BJP would have lost even more seats in Uttar Pradesh. I thank the people of Ayodhya. You would have seen the pain of Ayodhya from time to time. They were not given adequate compensation for their land, injustice was done to them, their land was not acquired at par with the market price, you snatched their land forcibly by slapping false cases against them...you destroyed the poor for a sacred thing. That is why, I think people of Ayodhya and neighbouring areas voted against the BJP.' SP won 37 seats increasing its tally from 5 in 2019.

Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina are among the leaders who have been invited for the upcoming swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi, officials in  Delhi, Colombo and Dhaka confirmed. The date of Modi's swearing-in ceremony is uncertain and BJP leaders meet is underway to chalk out plans for Cabinet formation and strategy for allies.

The swearing-in of Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu as the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh is likely to be postponed to June 12 from June 9.

TDP spokesperson K Pattabhi Ram said that Naidu wants to avoid having to reach Amaravati hurriedly after attending Modi’s swearing-in in New Delhi. The TDP chief has also invited a number of BJP leaders to the ceremony in the state capital.

TDP leaders arrive at the residence of party chief N Chandrababu Naidu in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, as seen in a video shared by ANI.

“Congratulations to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his electoral victory. Canada stands ready to work with his government to advance the relationship between our nations’ peoples—anchored to human rights, diversity, and the rule of law," Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a post on X.

While BJP meet is underway at party chief J P Nadda's residence, JD(U) leaders have arrived at Nitish Kumar's house for a separate meeting. 

Union Home Minister Amit Shah arrives at the residence of BJP national president JP Nadda, as seen in a video posted by ANI on X. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is also present at the residence. The meeting is to devise formula for discussions with allies and Cabinet formation.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut lauded Rahul Gandhi and said "If Rahul Gandhi is ready to accept the leadership, why would we object? He has proven himself as a national leader for multiple times. He is one of the popular leaders. We all want him and love him. There is no objection and difference in the alliance." 

In a press conference he further said, "Since the commencement of the elections, the INDIA alliance has no dissonance over the post of Prime Minister. This alliance has always fought to save democracy and the constitution from the dictatorial governance of the BJP and people have voted for us. Narendra Modi and Amit Shah should accept their defeat."

With ANI inputs

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra appreciated party workers in UP after major gains in the state. In a post on X, Vadra wrote in roughly translated Hindi, "My salute to all my colleagues of UP Congress. I saw you working hard in the sun and dust, you did not bow down, you did not stop, you showed courage to fight in the toughest of times. You were tortured, false cases were filed against you, you were put in jail, you were repeatedly put under house arrest but you did not get scared. Many leaders left in fear, you remained firm.

I am proud of you and the conscious people of UP, who understood the depth and truth of this country and gave a strong message to the whole of India to save our Constitution.

You have reestablished an old ideal in today's politics - that public issues are paramount, the price of ignoring them is heavy. Elections are of the public, it is the public who fights and it is the public who wins."

TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has arrived at the residence of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, in Delhi, PTI said in a post on X.

If there’s one economic variable that could be held most responsible for the ruling Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) losses in the current national elections, it is food inflation.

Annual inflation based on the Consumer Food Price Index (CPFI) averaged a mere 0.03 per cent in the 12 months from May 2018 leading to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. But in the 12-month run up (May 2023-April 2024) to this year’s elections, retail food inflation has averaged 7.88 per cent.

All the three basic foods – roti (cereals), dal (pulses) and sabzi (vegetables) – have registered double-digit inflation in the last 12 months, which would have definitely weighed on the ordinary voter’s mind. During this period, the average annual CFPI increase in cereals was 10.39 per cent, while 16.07 per cent for pulses and 18.33 per cent for vegetables. Read more

• 29 were constituencies reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• The party suffered its biggest loss in Uttar Pradesh, which accounted for 29 of these 92 seats.
• The other states where the saffron party faced major setbacks were Maharashtra and Rajasthan, where the party lost 16 and 10 seats respectively.
• Besides, the party also faced defeat in 8 constituencies each in Karnataka and West Bengal.
• BJP tally was halved in Haryana where the party lost 5 seats. It lost 5 seats in Bihar, 3 in Jharkhand, 2 in Punjab and one each in Assam, Chandigarh, Daman & Diu, Gujarat, Ladakh (it was part of Jammu & Kashmir in 2019), and Manipur. In all, the BJP lost 92 seats across 15 states and Union Territories. Read more

After facing defeat in the elections in Odisha, the BJD will form a committee to examine the results. "The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by party president Naveen Patnaik with the newly-elected legislators,"BJD's Kendrapara MLA Ganeswar Behera was quoted as saying by PTI.

"The party has decided to form a committee, which will submit its report to the president," he said on Wednesday. Ousting Naveen Patnaik out of power, the BJP secured 78 out of the 147 seats in the state. The BJD won 51 seats while Congress secured 14, CPIM 1 and three Independent candidates also won.

• The INDIA bloc leaders met yesterday and many of them felt the people's mandate was against the BJP.
• Many of them were of the view that the INDIA bloc should wait and watch for now.
• “We will take appropriate steps at the appropriate time to realise the people’s desire not to be ruled by the BJP’s government. This is our decision,” Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said.

While Ayodhya saw the consecration of the Ram Temple, long promised by the BJP, Varanasi is now not only Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency for the third time in running, but also the site of his government’s ambitious Kashi Vishwanath Temple corridor project.

Of the nine Lok Sabha constituencies falling in the Ayodhya region, the BJP lost from five. In 2019, it had won seven of these seats. The constituencies from which the party lost included Faizabad, under which the Ram Temple falls, which was won by the Samajwadi Party’s Awadhesh Prasad Singh, a Dalit fielded from a general category seat. The BJP had won the constituency in both 2014 and 2019.

In Sultanpur, BJP candidate Maneka Gandhi was served her first-ever electoral defeat by the Samajwadi Party’s Ram Bhual Nishad, who is originally from Gorakhpur. Basti Lok Sabha seat was also won by the SP, with the BJP’s two-time sitting MP from here, Harish Dwivedi, losing.

Read more

JD(U) sources said, the party has its eyes on Railways, Rural Development and Jal Shakti ministries. Other choices could be Transport and Agriculture. “Nitish has held railways, agriculture and transport portfolios in the NDA government. We want our MPs to take up departments that can help develop the state. Jal Shakti is crucial in the context of Bihar facing a water crisis alongside challenges of a receding water table and flooding. We could also give a push to interlinking of river projects,” said a JD(U) leader.

The Rural Development ministry, the leader reasoned, could help boost rural infrastructure and economy. “And getting Railways would of course be a matter of pride for Bihar,” he said.

Read more

TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu’s support is critical for the BJP, which has only 240 seats in Lok Sabha. In return, Naidu is likely to extract several promises and assurances, the most important of which will be the status of a Special Category State for Andhra Pradesh.

What is Special Category Status (SCS)?

In 1969, the Fifth Finance Commission of India introduced the mechanism of SCS to assist certain states in their development and fast-tracking growth if they faced historical economic or geographical disadvantages. Factors such as difficult and hilly terrain, low population density and/ or a sizable tribal population, strategic location along borders, economic and infrastructural backwardness, and non-viable nature of state finances were typically considered to accord SCS.

Read more

From Yamini Jadhav of the Shiv Sena Shinde faction in Maharashtra to BJP’s Tapas Roy in West Bengal, from Pradeep Yadav of the Congress in Jharkhand to BJP’s Jyothi Mirdha in Rajasthan, nine of the 13 turncoat candidates or their family members being probed by investigative agencies, lost in the Lok Sabha elections whose results were declared Tuesday.

Of these nine who lost, as many as seven belonged to the BJP or its allies.

There were more than 150 turncoats — politicians who shifted from one political party to another — in the fray in the elections that concluded on Saturday. Of these, 13 candidates or their family members are facing probes either by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Income Tax Department or the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Of the 13, eight had switched sides to the BJP — seven from Congress and one from Trinamool Congress; two had switched sides to the Shiv Sena Shinde faction from the Shiv Sena, one switched to TDP from YSRCP; and two to Congress from the Jharkhand Vikas Party and PEP, respectively.

Of the eight under agency scanner who joined the BJP, six lost the polls; of the two who joined Sena’s Shinde faction, one lost; and one each from the Jharkhand Vikas Party and PEP who had joined the Congress also lost. Read Full Copy

He is known to be a man invested in technology, and is widely credited for turning Hyderabad into a technology hub. Even in his party’s largely welfare-oriented manifesto, there were mentions of encouraging artificial intelligence in a largely agrarian state. And in 2024, N Chandrababu Naidu and his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) could have one more tryst with technology – with the coastal state of Andhra Pradesh potentially emerging as a new manufacturing destination.

With the TDP’s support crucial for the BJP-led NDA to stake claim at forming the next central government – after the latter failed to secure a majority on its own in the Lok Sabha elections – Naidu’s party is believed to be staking a claim for one of its elected MPs to potentially lead the IT Ministry, among others. If that were to come true, BJP leaders expect that a number of centrally subsidised manufacturing projects could land in Andhra Pradesh – significantly changing the country’s tech production map.

Naidu often recalls the time when he secured a meeting with Microsoft founder Bill Gates in the 1990s (when he was CM of undivided Andhra Pradesh). As per him, the meeting was only scheduled to last for 10 minutes, but ended up going on for 45 minutes. During that interaction, he claims to have convinced the company to set up a development centre in Hyderabad. Gates listened and the software giant opened a centre in the city in 1998, setting the stage for Hyderabad emerging as a key IT sector hub in India. Full Report

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) vote share in the 2024 general election contracted in most of the states and union territories (UTs) that had relatively low rates of growth in per capita income since the previous Lok Sabha polls in 2019, shows an analysis of Election Commission of India (ECI) data and per capita net state domestic product (NSDP) data from states. NSDP per capita is taken as the per capita income of a state and is counted among states’ key economic indicators.

Of the 12 states and UTs where per capita NSDP grew by a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of up to 2 per cent, and where the BJP contested in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections, the party’s vote share shrunk in nine. These nine states and UTs include Bihar, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Haryana, Delhi, Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur, and Chandigarh. Kerala, Sikkim, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands were the outliers to the trend. (Read Full copy)

A day after the BJP lost majority and the NDA secured 293 seats in the new Lok Sabha, the alliance Wednesday elected Narendra Modi as its leader and decided to stake claim to form the government.

Modi, on his part, assured partners that the NDA will work with greater strength to attain its goal of a Viksit Bharat.

Led by Modi, the NDA is expected to go to Rashtrapati Bhavan Friday to stake claim.

On Wednesday, President Droupadi Murmu dissolved the 17th Lok Sabha on the advice of the Union Cabinet, according to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Modi tendered his resignation to President Murmu who accepted it and asked him to continue until the new government assumes office. The newly-elected NDA MPs will also hold a meeting Friday. Read Full Copy

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) supremo M K Stalin met Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu at the Delhi airport as the two returned from the INDIA and the NDA meetings respectively.

Posting photos of the two, Stalin wrote on X: "Met Thiru Chandrababu Naidu garu, a longtime friend of Thalaivar Kalaignar, at Delhi Airport. I conveyed my best wishes to him and expressed hope that we will collaborate to strengthen the ties between the brotherly states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. I am confident that he will play a crucial role in the Union Government, advocating for the southern states and protecting our rights."

PK Kunhalikutty, National General Secretary of Indian Union Muslim League, told reporters after gthe INDIA bloc meeting that the alliance has decided to "wait for the appropriate time", since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not have a "comfortable majority".

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday said that the INDIA bloc will move forward to "fulfill people's desire to change the government at the right time."

Speaking to news agency ANI after the INDIA bloc meeting at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's Delhi residence, he said, "We have decided that this mandate is against increasing fascism & against those destroying the Constitution."

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray was not present at the INDIA bloc meeting.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday said the Lok Sabha poll results were a “befitting reply to the BJP”, a day after his party won 99 seats in the general elections. Speaking after a meeting of the INDIA bloc leaders, Kharge said the alliance will “continue to fight against BJP’s fascist rule”. “The mandate is on the defence of the Constitution of India, price rise, unemployment, and to save democracy,” he added. He further said the INDIA bloc will “take appropriate steps at appropriate time.”

At the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting held at Narendra Modi's residence, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies unanimously elected Modi as their leader.

The leaders said Modi as a "clear vision for Viksit Bharat" and they are "partners" in this goal.

They further appreciated "PM’s efforts towards poverty eradication", and agreed to work harder towards the goal.

According to a press release, Modi said that the Lok Sabha election result "was a historic mandate for 3rd consecutive government which was last received in India 60 years back". 

Here is the list of leaders currently at the INDIA bloc meeting underway at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence:

1. Mallikarjun Kharge, INC
2. Sonia Gandhi, INC
3. Rahul Gandhi, INC
4. K C Venugopal, INC
5. Sharad Pawar, NCP
6. Supriya Sule, NCP
7. M K Stalin, DMK
8. T R Baalu, DMK
9. Akhilesh Yadav, SP
10. Ramgopal Yadav, SP
11. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, INC
12. Abhishek Banerjee, AITC
13. Arvind Sawant, SS(UBT)
14. Tejashwi Yadav, RJD
15. Sanjay Yadav, RJD
16. Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M)
17. Sanjay Raut, SS(UBT)
18. D Raja, CPI
19. Champai Soren, JMM
20. Kalpana Soren, JMM
21. Sanjay Singh, AAP
22. Raghav Chadha, AAP
23. Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI(ML)
24. Omar Abdullah, JKNC
25. Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, IUML
26. P K Kunhalikutty, IUML
27. Jose K Mani, KC(M)
28. Thol Thirumavalavan, VCK
29. N K Premachandran, RSP
30. Dr M H Jawahirullah, MMK
31. G Devarajan, AIFB
32. E R Eswaran, KMDK
33. D Ravikumar, VCK

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray did not attend the INDIA bloc meeting at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence in Delhi today.

Party leaders Sanjay Raut, Anil Desai and Arvind Sawant are attending the meeting on Uddhav’s behalf.

Uddhav is keen on staking claim to form a government at the Centre and is holding talks with several Opposition leaders, including Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, a Shiv Sena (UBT) leader told The Indian Express earlier.

Addressing INDIA bloc leaders at his residence, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the result of the Lok Sabha elections was against Narendra Modi.

"The mandate is decisively against Mr. Modi, against him and the substance and style of his politics. It is a huge political loss for him personally apart from being a clear moral defeat as well," he said during the opening remarks of the meeting. "However, he is determined to subvert the will of the people," he added.

He further said, "The INDIA Alliance welcomes all parties which shares its fundamental commitment to the values enshrined in the Preamble to our Constitution and to its many provisions for economic, social and political justice."

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Wednesday unanimously elected Narendra Modi as the alliance leader, day after the coalition won 293 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The alliance is likely to stake claim to form government for the third consecutive time today, after a key meeting at Modi’s residence. 

Jharkhand Chief Minister and JMM leader Champai Soren has arrived at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence in Delhi for key INDIA bloc meeting. 

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) supremo M K Stalin has arrived at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence in Delhi for key INDIA bloc meeting. 

Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav arrived at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence for key INDIA meeting. He was accompanied by his uncle and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Gopal Yadav. 

NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar and Baramati MP Supriya Sule arrived at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence for key INDIA meeting

CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury and Aam Aadmi Party MP Raghav Chadha have arrived at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence for key INDIA bloc meeting. 

Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have reached party president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence for INDIA bloc meeting.

Others who have reached include AAP'S Sanjay Singh, JMM's Kalpana Soren, TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav.

Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav arrived in Delhi today to attend the INDIA bloc meeting, scheduled to be held at 6 pm