INDIA’S opposition bloc will win 295 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed. The alliance decided to boycott the exit polls aired on television channels after the seventh phase of polling ended on Saturday evening.

Kharge said that this figure was arrived at after feedback from people and leaders of INDIA bloc parties, who met at his residence on Saturday to take stock of the preparations for counting votes on June 4.

“INDIA has got janata (people’s) survey, they (media) have got sarkari survey,” Kharge, accompanied by alliance leaders, told the media.

He said this is a survey of people who gave this information to our leaders. “The government surveys are there and their media friends also inflate figures and put it out. Therefore, we want to tell you about the reality,” Congress president charged.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who will surrender and return to Tihar Jail on Sunday as interim bail in the liquor policy case expires, said that while INDIA will get 275 plus, NDA will get 235, which includes 220 of the BJP.

The majority mark is 272 in the Lok Sabha, with 543 elected and two nominated Anglo-Indian MPs.

The Congress president, meanwhile, also said that all the partners have agreed to direct their cadres and agents to keep a vigil at polling stations till the counting ends on June 4 and that they should collect Form 17 C -- which contains the details of votes polled at booths -- from the election officials to complete the electoral process.

Kharge also said at the press briefing that the INDIA bloc leaders have sought time from the Election Commission of India to press on their demand that the Commission give directions to District Magistrates across the country to ensure counting is conducted as per the rules. “We want the ECI to ratify our demand listed out in the memorandum, which we will submit to them whenever we meet them,” the Congress president stated.

Apart from Kharge, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, K C Venugopal and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were also present at the meeting.

Leaders from other INDIA allies who attended the meeting are: Samajwadi Party, CPI(M), CPI, DMK, JMM, AAP, RJD, Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (Sharad Pawar) were present at the meeting. Opposition leaders who attended the meeting included Sharad Pawar from NCP (Sharad Pawar), Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, Anil Desai from Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray’s faction, CPM’s Sitaram Yechury, AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann, JMM’s Champai Soren and Kalpana Soren, DMK’s T R Baalu, NC’s Farooq Abdullah, and CPI’s D Raja.

However, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee did not attend as she had earlier said that she would be busy since polling was to take place in some Lok Sabha seats in the state. Likewise, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti abstained from the meeting for personal reasons.