Exclusive: Congress Chief's Prediction For Party In 2024 Lok Sabha Polls

Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge today said that the party was confident that along with other INDIA bloc partners, will stop the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from winning a third consecutive term. In an exclusive interview with NDTV, Mr Kharge said that the Congress is hoping to win 128 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

"From the reports we have received, we are sure that we will stop BJP from coming back to power. We believe that Congress has already crossed the 100-seat mark and are hoping to win 128 seats," Mr Kharge told NDTV.

Several Opposition parties joined hands ahead of the elections to defeat BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking about the performance of the INDIA alliance, Mr Kharge said, "We (INDIA alliance) have performed very well together. We also tried to help each other during the polls, which resulted in our votes getting transferred to each other."

Voting for the 543 seats of Lok Sabha began on April 19, and the last and seventh leg will be held on June 1. Results will be declared on June 4, and a party needs to cross the 272 mark to form the government.

Mr Kharge has called for a meeting of all alliance members where he plans to discuss how to identify if Electronic Voting Machines are being tampered with during the counting of votes.

"To ensure that there is no meddling during the counting of votes, we have called for a meeting on June 1. We will tell every leader how EVM tampering works and how to ensure it doesn't happen," Mr Kharge said.

In a separate interview, the Congress chief backed Rahul Gandhi to succeed Narendra Modi as Prime Minister if the INDIA bloc defeats the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"Rahul Gandhi is my choice to be Prime Minister... he is my choice and he represents the youth, and length and breadth of the country," Mr Kharge told NDTV.