Election Commission to seek probe into sting operation on opinion polls

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission is likely to write to the Delhi Police suggesting a probe into the recent claims by a news channel that 11 opinion poll companies secretly interviewed by it were willing to manipulate their survey results. The Commission will also make a fresh pitch for banning of opinion polls by drawing the attention of the law ministry, information & broadcasting ministry as well as Press Council of India to the "sting operation" and emphasizing how it only vindicated the EC's fears that opinion polls could be misused by political parties to influence the voter's judgment.

The EC's letters to the Delhi Police Commissioner, law secretary, I&B secretary and Press Council of India chairman, come days after a Congress team led by Ajay Maken met the full Commission, seeking its intervention to check the alleged "doctoring" of poll projections and crack the whip on the pollsters "exposed" in the sting operation.

Sources in the Commission told TOI that a communication is headed to the Delhi Police, requesting it to verify the claims of the news channel and, accordingly, order an investigation against the opinion poll companies found, prima facie, manipulating poll projections in favour of a particular party.

At the same time, the EC will reiterate its decade-old recommendation to the government to ban opinion polls during the course of elections. Its missive to the law ministry, which follows nearly half a dozen reminders on the issue, is expected to highlight how the "expose" had shown that even the big names in the business were allegedly willing to tamper their survey results. EC will assert that an opinion poll ban had become imperative for free and fair elections.

Both I&B ministry and Press Council of India may be asked by EC to ensure proper dissemination of opinion poll results in the electronic and print media. The Press Council has made certain recommendations for publishing of opinion polls in the print media, including a mention of the institutions that carry out the survey, the sample size, the methodology and the possible margin of error.