I.N.D.I.A. likely to propound a seat sharing formula at the inaugural meeting of the Coordination Committee

The agenda for the inaugural meeting of the Opposition Bloc INDIA’s Coordination Committee will include discussions on the seat-sharing mechanism and developing a comprehensive campaign strategy ahead of the all-important 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Several leaders of the Opposition have requested that a seat-sharing formula be developed as soon as possible to ensure that a joint candidate from the Opposition is put up against BJP candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. As stated by the leaders previously, the INDIA bloc was formed to take down the BJP government and protect the motherland India. In tandem with that, leaders of the coalition parties have stated that the parties must "shed their egos" and "vested interests" in order to reach such an agreement.

The 14-member opposition panel comprises Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena-UBT), Javed Ali Khan (SP), K C Venugopal (Congress), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), Raghav Chadha (AAP), Omar Abdullah (National Conference), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Lalan Singh (JDU), T R Baalu (DMK), D Raja (CPI), Hemant Soren (JMM), and a member from the CPIM. TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee will not be in attendance at the first Coordination Committee meeting as he has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate, and CPIM is yet to shortlist a candidate for the said committee. The other leaders are slated to meet at NCP leader Sharad Pawar’s Delhi residence on Wednesday evening.

"Every political party will have to sacrifice three things to make this alliance successful - ambition, a difference of opinion, and personal disagreements," said the AAP Leader ahead of the meeting. In addition to a seat-sharing formula, the leaders will also draw out well-curated plans for of the electoral campaign to challenge the BJP. Issues such as door-to-door campaigns, public outreach programs, joint rallies, and a social media campaign will also be floated around in today’s meeting.

At today’s meeting, logistics pertaining to campaigns, rallies and ways to connect with the masses are likely to be debated, and deliberated upon. The workings of other sub-committees like the campaign committee, working group on media, research, and social media sub-groups will also be looked into.

28 political parties have joined hands to form the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance – INDIA, to face the BJP, head at the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Three joint meetings of the alliance have been held so far. At the Mumbai chapter of the joint meeting, the parties said that they would contest the polls together "as far as possible.”