The Election Commission has
banned the publication and dissemination of exit polls of any kind in the five
poll bound states from November 11 till December 4, when the Assembly elections
are over.
Some unscrupulous elements are
spreading misinformation that this ban on Exit Poll might be due to extraneous
considerations such as influence of congress over ECI or ECI playing in the
hands of UPA government. I feel that such allegations are completely baseless
and unsubstantiated.
It is not the first time that
ECI has put a ban on Exit Polls. It has done so many times. In fact, putting a ban on Exit Polls in this
elections is indispensable for conducting free and fair elections. It is
because the present elections are going to be conducted in a phased manner.
The
first phase of Chhattisgarh Elections will take place on 11th
November. It is a well-established and a well-researched fact that the results
of Exit Polls can motivate or demotivate the subsequent voters (if they are
going to vote after a short period of time) in a significant manner. The
probability of changing the decision for whom to vote increases significantly after
watching an Exit Poll. If a prospective voter sees that the Exit Polls are
predicting a huge victory for a political party for which he/she is not going
to vote, then such prospective voter might get demotivated or demoralized or
disheartened. This will affect his decision of voting for a particular
candidate considerably. Some people might even decide not to vote at all after
seeing their political party lose in Exit Polls of previous phase.
Candidates might even buy or
sponsor the Exit Poll results. All the candidates are bound to disclose
election-related expenditure that takes place during the elections. Any
investment on Exit Polls will surely not become known to the election
commission or the election officials. It will be a clear violation of law
(Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 and RP Act). This is certainly not an encouraging
practice and it certainly defiles and pollutes the sanctity and purity of the
election process.
We all believe that “prevention
is better than cure”. This step of ECI
aims to prevent such mishaps from taking place. At this juncture, it becomes
imperative to talk about Article 324 of the Constitution of India. Article 324
states that the superintendence, direction and control of elections is
to be vested in the Election Commission. Article 324 (1) unambiguously states
that the superintendence, direction and control of the conduct of all
elections to Parliament and to the Legislature of every State and of elections
to the offices of President and Vice President held under this Constitution
shall be vested in the Election Commission.
In the case of Kanhiyalal
Omar v. R.K. Trivedi & Ors.[1],
the supreme court said that under article 324, the powers given to the
Election Commission are very wide and the election commission can take all
steps to ensure free and fair elections and to maintain the sanctity and purity
of elections. Of course, this is subject to any legislation made under
article 327 and 328. However, as of now, no such legislation on Exit Polls is present.
Hence, the ban on Exit Polls by ECI is constitutional and a very welcome step
for our democracy.
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