Daily Bulletin: Opposition to converge in Delhi today as Lok Sabha election concludes, exit polls predict win for NDA; day’s top stories

Opposition leaders to meet in Delhi today Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, who had been at the helm of efforts to bring the entire Opposition under the banner of a grand alliance before the election, is likely to hold meetings with multiple parties in Delhi on Monday. Reportedly, the TDP chief is also expected to visit West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav and his alliance partner Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati are also likely to be in Delhi, and reports said that Mayawati may meet Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Mamata, on Sunday, tweeted about the exit polls and said that she didn’t trust exit polls “gossip”. “The game plan is to manipulate or replace thousands of EVMs through this gossip. I appeal to all Opposition parties to be united, strong and bold. We will fight this battle together.” [caption id=“attachment_5828171” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo of the Parliament of India. Twitter @loksabhatv[/caption] Phase 7 of election concludes, exit polls predict NDA likely to cross 300-seat mark As the massive seven-phase exercise for the Lok Sabha election concluded with the last phase on Sunday, exit polls predicted a win for the BJP-led NDA government. The votes are due to be counted on 23 May. The _News18-Ipsos_ poll predicted that the BJP will retain its hold over states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and the North East. The party is also likely to continue to dominate its stronghold, Uttar Pradesh. The survey also said that the saffron party is likely to make gains in West Bengal and Odisha. The top leadership of the NDA has been summoned to Delhi and will join a meeting in preparation for result day on Tuesday. The seventh phase of the General Election held on Sunday was marred by incidents of violence in states like West Bengal and Karnataka. In West Bengal , which has seen clashes on the polling days of every phase, bomb-related incidents took place in some of the nine seats that went to polls. However, the intensity of violence was comparatively lower than other phases. The BJP and TMC engaged in a back and forth of allegations of violence and intimidation. A BJP delegation led by vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar and Sishir Bajoria, a member of the Election Committee, met the West Bengal chief election officer to discuss various discrepancies in the seventh phase. Rahul Gandhi says EC’s capitulation before Narendra Modi is obvious  Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday alleged that the Election Commission ’s “capitulation” before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is obvious and the poll watchdog is not feared and respected anymore. Training his guns on the poll body on the last day of polling for the Lok Sabha election, he listed a host of examples, including Modi’s visit to Kedarnath in Uttarakhand, to accuse the EC of being biased towards the prime minister. “From electoral bonds and EVMs to manipulating the election schedule, NaMo TV, ‘Modi’s Army’ and now the drama in Kedarnath; the Election Commission’s capitulation before Mr Modi and his gang is obvious to all Indians,” Rahul tweeted. “The EC used to be feared and respected. Not anymore.” The Congress chief’s tweet came a day after his party hit out at the poll panel after Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa reportedly wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora that he will be recusing himself from EC meetings as his dissent was not being recorded on clearances given by the poll panel to the prime minister over the alleged poll code violations. Japan’s Orix Corp seeks to buy remaining stake in IL&FS wind assets Debt-ridden IL&FS on Sunday said Japan’s Orix Corporation, which owns 49 percent share each in its seven operating wind power plants, has expressed intent to buy the remaining stake in those assets. The seven wind power plants, in the form of special purpose vehicles (SPVs) and owned by IL&FS Wind Energy Limited (IWEL), are spread across 12 states with a total generation capacity of 874 MW. The group had initiated the process of the sale of controlling stake in the wind power plants in November last year by inviting expressions of interest. Google suspends some business with Huawei Google has said that after Trump’s blacklist on Huawei, the Mountain View-based tech giant has stopped business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware and software products except those covered by open source licenses. Huawei is said to lose access to Android and its smartphones will also lose access to Google Play Store and Gmail app amongst others.