Rahul Gandhi will be next PM, says Ajay Maken; Meenakshi Lekhi calls opposition nervous

Ajay Maken, the Congress party candidate from New Delhi parliamentary constituency, said that Rahul Gandhi will be the next prime minister of the country.

"The results will be definitely in favour of Congress. We are expecting that Congress will win and form the government. Rahul Gandhi will be the PM. The fight in Delhi is between BJP and Congress," Maken told ANI.

Pitted against BJP's Meenakshi Lekhi, Maken is eyeing to wrestle back the New Delhi Lok Sabha seat, which he lost to Lekhi in 2014 general elections.

The Congress leader met supporters at his office ahead of the counting and expressed confidence that his party will form the government at the centre even as several exit polls predict victory for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government.

Recently 22 political parties moved Election Commission of India demanding counting of VVPAT slips before the counting of Electronic Voting Machine. The polling body, however, rejected the opposition parties' demand on the basis of the impracticability of its implementation and cited Supreme Court's order on the subject.

Lekhi, Maken's opponent, called the opposition's demand baseless.

"The opposition parties are nervous and that's why they are questioning the EVMs. These voting machines led to victory of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi assembly elections, of Chnadrababu Naidu in Andhra Pradesh elections and Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal polls," Lekhi said.

The counting of votes in 542 Lok Sabha constituencies began on Thursday amidst tight security, capping a two-month long election process which witnessed high-octane campaigning and charges of tampering EVMs and violations of the Model Code of Conduct.

-ANI