CEC asks media to introspect over exit polls, early trends

Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar said media, particularly electronic media, need to introspect about the expectations that arise due to exit polls

Media, particularly electronic media, need to introspect about the expectations that arise due to exit polls, chief election commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said as he criticised TV channels for displaying results on counting day before official counting even begins in a bid to justify their exit polls.

Chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar. (PTI)

“Because of expectations set by exit polls, a huge distortion is created. This is an issue that needs self-introspection, especially for electronic media,” he said as he called on self-regulatory bodies such as the National Broadcasters Association (NBSA) to regulate the media entities.

Kumar said that the Election Commission of India was not responsible for governing exit polls under the law but over the last few elections, a trend had emerged wherein news channels start displaying results from 8 am in the morning even as official counting begins at 8:30 am, as per Kumar.

“When counting begins, results start coming in from 8:05, 8:10 which is nonsense. My first counting begins at 8:30 am. Are these trends that are given at 8:05 am, 8:10 am given to justify the trends of the exit polls? When counting begins at 8:30 am, the results of the first round cannot come before 9:05 am, 9:10 am. We upload that to our website at 9:30 am, and then 11:30 am and then 1:30 pm. Maybe a correspondent was there in the counting room and thus you got it earlier. But while counting, for every round, the result must be displayed and it must be signed by officials. How can it then come before 9:05-9:10 am?” he said.

Because of the exit polls and the initial results, by the time the final results start coming in, there is a mismatch, he said. “And that mismatch can lead to serious issues sometimes. The gap between expectation and achievement is nothing but frustration,” he said.

‘EVMs are not pagers’

Kumar, once again, addressed longstanding questions about the integrity of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and explained that throughout the process of using EVMs, candidates’ own agents oversee and ratify the process at every stage.

“Now people ask that if people can be blown up using pagers, how can EVMs not be hacked? Pagers are connected but EVMs are not connected,” Kumar said, referring to the recent attack in Lebanon where pagers used by both members of the militant and political group Hezbollah and civilians including medical professionals were blown up by Israel.