"Moment Of Introspection For Media": Election Commission On Exit Polls

Exit polls create expectations that cannot always be met and before getting hopes up, one should look into the specifics of the exit poll -- like where it was held and what was the sample size, the Election Commission said today while announcing the poll dates for Maharashtra and Jharkhand. This, the Commission said, is an occasion where the media must introspect and correct itself.

"We don't govern exit polls - but there is a need to introspect - what was the sample size etc. There are bodies that self-regulate. Time has come that the concerned bodies will do some self-regulation," added Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.

Pointing out that the "gap between expectation and reality can lead to frustration", he said one cannot expect the trends to match the exit polls. 

In this context, he also clarified the timing of the trends announcements, which featured in the huge row during the counting of votes from Haryana last week. 

The Congress, which lost the election it was expected to win comfortably, had complained that the time lag between the announcements and the live counting in progress at various centres. 

What amplified the shock for the party was that it was ahead in the early trends before its score nosedived. The Congress had questioned it, declaring that it would pursue the matter. 

"It is not as if the trends exist to justify the exit polls," Mr Kumar said today. 

"Results start coming around 8:05 or 8:10 in the morning - this is nonsense," he said. "The counting begins at 8:30 - we put out counting results every 2 hours starting 9:30 am. It takes another half-hour for it to reflect on the official site. Now people at the counting booth will get the current figure," he added, explaining the mismatch. 

The counting of a single round cannot take less than 30 minutes, he said. So it is usually 8.50 before the results of the first round is out and it is up on the Election Commission website by 9.30.