The Election Commission on Wednesday virtually washed its hands of the issue of the alleged manipulation of opinion polls exposed by a sting operation on the ground that it has no jurisdiction to put a ban and it was up to the government to take such a decision.
The EC clarification came after a Congress delegation led by Ajay Maken met the poll panel members seeking its intervention to stop what it called “manufactured opinion polls” that could unduly influence “vulnerable voters, many of whom would vote for the first time” and skew the level- playing ground.
The Congress delegation took up the matter with the EC following a sting operation aired by a TV news channel code-named ‘Operation Prime Minister’ that showed how opinion polls can be manipulated by the research agencies.
Eleven research agencies, including C-Voters, which conducted opinion polls for news channels were exposed manipulating their poll date or promising to do so to tailor-made needs and for projecting certain figures. The EC, however, pointed out that its power and jurisdiction begins with the announcement of the date of election and ends with the conduct of free and fair polls. “We cannot interfere with any exercise-opinion polls or survey-that takes place before and after the elections,’’ an EC official said.
The EC pointed out that it was for the government to act on its “long-pending request to ban opinion and exit surveys-our recommendation was sent way back in 1997”, a senior EC official said, admitting that the opinion polls does influence the undecided and often uninitiated voters and sets a voting trend “that has indeed been our experience”.
