E-Paper
UP elections: Akhilesh Yadav again hits out at opinion polls, terms them ‘opium polls’
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday described surveys predicting the BJP return to power in the upcoming UP assembly elections as “opium polls”.
Prefer HTon Google
LUCKNOW: Days after the Samajwadi Party (SP) sought a ban on opinion polls being aired by television news channels, its president, Akhilesh Yadav, on Wednesday described surveys predicting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s return to power in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections as “opium polls”.
“Don’t call them opinion polls, they are actually opium polls,” Yadav said at a Republic Day function at the party headquarters here.
The SP leader also claimed that the surveys were trying to ‘intoxicate the public mind’ in favour of the ruling party.
On Sunday, the party had written to the Election Commission of India (ECI), seeking a ban on the opinion polls on the grounds that they could affect the outcome of the elections. Two days later, its alliance partner, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), also urged the election body to ban, with immediate effect, all types of opinion polls telecast by news channels.
Also Read | SP urges poll panel to ban UP opinion polls
In October last year, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BJP) had twice appealed to the Election Commission to ban the opinion polls.
Reacting to Yadav’s remarks, state BJP vice-president Vijay Bahadur Pathak said: “Since 2014, the opposition in general hasn’t been able to accept anything. The neither have any faith in the government, nor on the Constitution. They haven’t also been able to digest people’s verdict .. now they don’t have faith in the opinion polls. After their defeat on March 10, they will cast doubt on the electronic voting machines too.”
By law, television channels are allowed to run opinion polls ahead of the polls, but not allowed to run exit polls (those conducted after elections) till all phases of voting are over in a multiphase election. That would mean that legally, the television channels are allowed to run opinion polls ahead of the polls.
The ABP-CVoter opinion poll this month predicted that the BJP and its allies will win with 223-235 seats in the state, with SP and its allies coming in second with 145-157 seats. The poll predicted the BSP and the Congress will trail with 8-16, and 3-7 seats, respectively.
The Zee-DesignBoxed poll gave similar results.
The opinion polls have come as a matter of concern for the SP, which is considered to be the main competition to the incumbent BJP.
Voting in the state is slated to be held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7. The results will be declared on March 10.
