-The Hindu Opinion polls should be regulated, not banned. Ideally, it should be self-regulation by pollsters and media organisations. The debate around the latest proposal to ban opinion polls is an opportunity in disguise. Beneath the familiar acrimony of partisan debates, a much-needed middle ground has emerged quietly. All we need is a group of stakeholders - pollsters, researchers, media heads and political leaders - to come together to turn this possibility...
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No Exit Polls in Poll-Bound States From Nov 11 to Dec 4: EC
-Outlook Chennai: The Election Commission of India today notified the period between November 11 and December 4 prohibiting conducting any Exit Poll and publishing or publicising in print or electronic media in the poll-bound and bypoll-bound states, including Tamil Nadu during the period. The bypoll to Yercaud (ST) Assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu will be held on December 4. The ECI notifies the period between 7 am on November 11, the first day...
More »The case for banning opinion polls-TCA Srinivasa-Raghavan
-The Business Standard A recent academic paper on probability theory shows how beliefs are influenced by interpretations of data rather than the data itself Ever since Indira Gandhi turned it into a closely-held family company - and even more so since Sonia Gandhi turned it into a brain-dead dinosaur - one of the hallmarks of the Congress party is that it often ends up doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. Whether...
More »A flawed and unwarranted move
-The Hindu The Election Commission might be well-intentioned in seeking to ban opinion polls in the run-up to an election, but the move does not seem to be sound in law, and is certainly not desirable in practice. The reasoning for a ban is that opinion polls influence voters prior to polling, and therefore the results of such polls should be withheld until after the end of voting. Needless to say,...
More »Parties satisfied with EVM with paper trail -J Balaji
-The Hindu The representatives of the recognised national and State-level political parties on Friday expressed satisfaction over the functioning of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), developed by the Election Commission (EC) and made some suggestions for further improvement. The Commission said "the suggestions will be considered by the Expert Committee and the EC." Informed sources said the improved VVPAT could possibly be used for field...
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