Opinion poll puts EC in fix
Assembly elections: Watchdog has a tough mission
The row over a national television channel airing an ‘opinion poll’ on the April 13 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu when publication or dissemination of all such results have been specifically banned till May 10, has put the Election Commission (EC) in a fix.
With another two weeks to go for the counting of votes, the channel putting out the results of what it termed “an opinion poll” conducted after the Tamil Nadu elections by visiting the persons of the sampled population at their households, has blurred the distinction between an ‘exit Poll’, and an ‘opinion poll’ that is usually taken before the elections.
The State Chief Electoral Officer, Praveen Kumar is contemplating seeking an explanation from the channel authorities though it specifically said it was not an ‘exit poll’ that has been banned by the Supreme Court during any electoral process, sources said on Sunday.
The so-called ‘opinion poll’ has said the outcome of the 2011 Assembly elections is “too close to call” with the DMK-led front getting an edge over the AIADMK-led alliance in the last campaign lap.
As early as April 3, the CEO had issued a statement making it clear that while all ‘exit polls’ have been banned during the period April 4 to 5.30 pm on May 10 (when the sixth and last phase of elections in West Bengal ends), publication or broadcast of any ‘opinion poll’ was prohibited during the 48 hours prior to 5 pm on April 13, the polling day in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
However, the channel’s claim that its results were not that of an ‘exit poll’ but only an ‘opinion poll’ conducted after the recent elections, has raised fresh doubts for the EC, as it technically made little difference from an usual ‘exit poll’ taken when voters came out of their respective polling booths. The issue has raised a controversy in Tamil Nadu as some of the other local Tamil TV channels also ran scrolls on the outcome of the former’s ‘opinion poll’.
Even as the EC is worried over whether the ‘opinion poll’ broadcast was an ‘exit poll in disguise’, sources said the CEO was likely to take up the issue with that broadcaster. This has come even as EC is making hectic preparations to strengthen the security at all counting centres where the EVMs’ have been kept and video-graphing the entire process through webcams. The EC had taken this step this time in the backdrop of some controversies at counting centres during the last Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu.
Asked about the ‘opinion poll’, which predicted the ruling DMK returning to power in the state with a small majority, Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said her party usually did not take “such polls seriously because they are just like sample surveys.”
However, Natarajan was sure that even otherwise, the DMK-led front would post a “phenomenal victory” and that M Karunanidhi would return as the chief minister for a record sixth time.
Another senior Congress leader from Tamil Nadu and Union Minister G K Vasan, who called on the DMK patriarch on Sunday, was also inclined to agree with the findings of that ‘opinion poll’.
Nonetheless, this ‘opinion poll’ has raised considerable heckles in political circles. Veteran political commentator Cho S Ramaswamy said he did not agree with the its findings , put out by the English TV channel, as in his view the AIADMK-front led by J Jayalalithaa, would get a comfortable majority.
