The Attorney General E Vahanvati on Monday has conveyed to the Centre that opinion polls prior to elections should be banned. This after Congress had opposed the opinion polls and had written to the Election Commission dismissing such surveys as ‘erroneous’, ‘lacking credibility’ and almost always ‘manipulated’.
In response to the letter, the Election Commission had asked the Central government to bring in a law opposing opinion polls during elections.
"I didn't ask for ban on opinion polls, I said let us trash them. What's the scientific method these agencies follow? How can a small sample size reflect the trend in the entire nation?" said Digvijaya Singh.
"Exit polls are fine but pre-poll opinion polls should not be allowed. I have been approached by an agency which was willing to do a poll favourable to Congress for a huge sum," he further said.
However, BJP has alleged that Congress is just anxious as most of the opinion polls are against their party.
BJP leader Arun Jaitley said that banning opinion polls is neither constitutionally permissible nor desirable.
"If the polls can be legitimately banned in this country, the next step would be to ban political commentators from giving assessments favourable to some and adverse to some others. A potential loser in an election cannot seek to alter the rules of Free Speech," he said.
"Opinion polls can be conducted but EC must set time frame wherein results shouldn't be published until elections are held," said CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury.
According to sources, Election Commission will take into consideration demands of Congress.
Five states Delhi, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan are going to polls in November and December. Interestingly, most of the opinion polls have suggested that the wave in country is on BJP's side and Narendra Modi may sweep general elections this time.
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