Kejriwal writes to EC, NBSA seeking guidelines on opinion polls

AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal today wrote to the News Broadcasting Standards Authority and the Election Commission of India casting doubts on the veracity of opinion polls following the airing of a sting—Operation Prime Minister—by News Express, a TV news channel on 25 February. In a letter to NBSA, chairperson, Justice (retired) RV Raveendran, Kejriwal said, “In case the footage aired by this news channel is authentic unless proved otherwise, it represents a dark hour for the Indian media. The sting operation shows the heads of some of the well known polling organisations are willing to manipulate pre-poll survey results for monetary considerations. There are serious allegations about many news channels being willing partners to this manipulations. lt shows that some political parties have been buying favourable surveys’ often using black money.” “…. The last few weeks have seen a flurry of opinion polls with successive higher projections for a particular party. The AAP requests you to get the veracity of this sting checked and conduct an inquiry into the role of news channels in broadcasting manipulated polls,” the AAP convener said. [caption id=“attachment_1439521” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Kejriwal has sought stronger norms for opinion polls. PTI[/caption] Kejriwal said that a criminal investigation should be carried out by a Supreme Court monitored special investigation team to probe the allegations made by the sting operation. Expressing his disappointment with the nature of opinion polls, the former Delhi chief minister sought specific guidelines from the poll panel on opinion polls for all forms of media. “The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) does not favour a blanket ban on opinion polls, but would like to request the Election commission to take concrete steps for ensuring that there should be a code of conduct for the telecast/publication or opinion polls,” he said. The Aam Aadmi Party leader also wrote to the Election Commission praising it for its actions so far but said that it should renew its efforts to prevent the misleading of people during elections. “I would request the commission to once again renew its efforts to remind the lawmakers, particularly the government to ensure that no motivated attempts are allowed to succeed to mislead the people during the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections,” he said.   Kejriwal said that his party was seeking that the Election Commission should issue “clear guidelines” on the broadcast of such polls to fix accountability.