Article 19(1)(a) – the epitome of banter rights in India shrunk a little. Opinion polls and exit polls have been recently banned by a notification from the election watch dogs 48 hours prior to the date of Assembly or Lok Sabha elections.
Following is an excerpt of the notification :
“No result of any opinion poll or exit poll conducted at any time shall be published, publicised or disseminated in any manner, whatsoever, by print, electronic or any other media, at any time during the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for closing of poll in an election held in a single phase; and in a multi-phased election, and in the case of elections in different States announced simultaneously, at any time during the period starting from 48 hours before the hour fixed for closing of poll in the first phase of the election and till the poll is concluded in all the phases in all States.”
Some immediate questions:
1. How does a voter decision change only in the last 48 hours by watching what Prannoy, Rajdeep or Arnab have to say? Obviously 5 years of fooling around by the government is of no consequence.
2. Is it not a part of our fundamental right to free speech to hear and to be heard?
3. Will a comment from Prannoy saying “I think BJP will lead by 007 seats in UP” lead to “dissemination” of opinion poll information? So what can can the channels and papers actually say?
We can expect some mindless and directionless banter from our channels (perennially lacking in content) in the days preceding the elections, since they essentially cannot talk about who might win.
Also interesting to see will be some mudslinging and erratic litigations by losing parties on news channels for comments made by them.
-Shashank Bijapur
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