The Opposition parties in the INDIA bloc welcomed the Lok Sabha election dates and said they were prepared to take on the BJP and unseat it from power. The Congress said it would fight for “nyay” (justice) to the country and its people, while the Left parties said their primary objective was to remove the BJP from power. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) appealed to voters to vote against dictatorship and hooliganism.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said in a social media post that the 2024 Lok Sabha election would open the “door of nyay” for India. “This would be perhaps the last chance to save democracy and our Constitution from dictatorship. We, the people of India, will together fight against hatred, loot, unemployment, price rise and atrocities,” he said.
Later, speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he questioned the seven-phase poll schedule and quipped that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted to tour everywhere. He said the polls could have been completed in three or four phases. “We are not anxious about what is going to happen, but Mr. Modi putting seven phases, it means that he wants to tour everywhere. In this country, I have also contested nearly 12 elections and there hardly used to be four phases. Sometimes it used to be even one phase. I have seen two phases also but maximum it used to be four,” he said. He said all works would be stopped for 70-80 days during the election, materials would not be supplied, and budgets would not be spent. “So, according to me, this is not good,” Mr. Kharge said.
