Opinion, exit polls have no scientific basis: India's chief election commissioner

New Delhi, Apr 28 (PTI) India's Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi has said there is no scientific basis for exit and opinion polls and sought a ban on both saying these could be sponsored. Speaking at a panel discussion on "Is India's media becoming increasing unethical?" here Friday, he said the poll body wanted a ban on not only exit polls but also opinion polls. "We wanted a ban on opinion and exit polls. If editorial can be paid, if a news item can be paid, then you can imagine that chances are high that these (opinion polls) could also be paid". "We wanted a ban on both but the Supreme Court has banned only exit and left out opinion poll. Every political party has come complaining about it," Quraishi said. Justifying the need for ban on exit and opinion polls, he said it is sought as there is so much of divergence in results of such polls. "If they would have been scientific, then it could have been considered," he added. Talking about the problem of paid news, Quarishi said "it is bothering not only politicians but also journalists. 95 per cent of journalists are against it as they are professionals and they don't want to indulge in this type of commercial acitivities." He noted that after complaints received following the assembly elections in the eastern state of Bihar, the Commission had taken several remedial measures including the setting up of Media Certification and Monitoring Committee at both state and district levels. He said that in Bihar, 121 cases were detected by the committee which prima facie was paid news and after issue of notices, most the cases turned out to be paid news and candidates had to include those expenses as part of their election expenditure. In the recent Assembly elections in five states, the Commission had found 339 instances of paid news in Punjab, 112 in Uttar Pradesh, 61 in Uttarakhand and 70 in Goa. PTI