'Misleading, Misguiding': SP Pushes Back Against Opinion Polls

The SP even wrote to the Election Commission, seeking an immediate ban on opinion polls being aired on TV channels.

Kolkata: Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav addresses during United India Rally at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata, on 19 January 2019.

(Photo: Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS)

Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav condemned opinion polls and questioned their basis ahead of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Assembly elections next month, saying that they were 'opium polls.'

In an interview with NDTV, the leader stated, "These are not opinion polls. These are opium polls. I wonder what is the basis on which these polls are done... they are trying to mislead people."

On Sunday, 23 January, SP had written to the Election Commission, seeking an immediate ban on opinion polls being aired on news channels, which they indicated, were against the model code of conduct.

"For free, fair, fearless polls it is necessary to ban opinion polls on television news channels with an immediate effect," the letter reportedly read, news agency PTI reported.

SP's chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary made the party's stand clear by saying "some news channels are showing opinion polls, which violates the model code of poll conduct, misguides the voters and also influences the poll."

Issuing a response to the complaint, UP Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said that the move suggested Akhilesh Yadav's 'desperation' in face of a looming electoral defeat.

(With inputs from NDTV and PTI.)