Opposition meet to discuss chances of non-NDA alliance begins

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The opposition leaders meet in New Delhi.

New Delhi, May 21:Top opposition leaders met here on Tuesday, ahead of the Lok Sabha poll results on May 23, to discuss the possibility of a non-NDA alliance staking claim to government-formation.

They will also move the Election Commission (EC) to press for their demand of tallying the paper trail of votes (VVPATs) with the electronic voting machine (EVM) figures.

Ahmed Patel, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ashok Gehlot, Abhishek Manu Singhvi of the Congress, TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu, Satish Chandra Misra of the BSP, Sitaram Yechury of the CPI (M), D Raja of the CPI, AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal, Derek O’Brien of the TMC, Ramgopal Yadav of the SP, Kanimozhi of the DMK, Manoj Jha (RJD), Majeed Memon (NCP) and Devinder Rana (NC) are taking part in the meeting.

“On VVPATs and the EVM tally, the EC is yet to come out with a procedure in case there is a mismatch. Even if there is one mismatch in the VVPAT samples picked for counting and EVMs, to maintain the integrity of the electoral process, all VVPATs in that Assembly segment must be counted,” Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Yechury said. PTI