BJP Cries Foul After Cong Leader Does Own Version of ‘Exit Poll’

The Congress IT cell head posted a survey that claimed the first phase of elections was in the party’s favour.

Two days after the completion of first phase of Gujarat Assembly election on 9 December, yet another political contest broke out between the Congress and the BJP – this time over a survey a Congress leader posted of the first phase of voting.

It began when All India Congress Committee’s National Media Coordinator Rohan Gupta posted a graphic which depicted that the first phase of polling in Gujarat had gone in the Congress’ favour. The source of the figures at the bottom says ‘Chanakya India’, easily confused with pollster Today’s Chanakya.

The BJP has accused the Congress of conducting a ‘fake’ survey.

Congress office-bearer caught spreading fake ‘survey’ of first phase of Gujarat elections. Even @TodaysChanakya, whose name has been used, has denied doing any such survey... https://t.co/7nvlpasSGT

— BJP Gujarat (@BJP4Gujarat) December 10, 2017

Suresh Nakhua, BJP Mumbai spokesperson and author at right-wing publications OpIndia and Swarajya according to his Twitter bio, alleged in a series of tweets that the survey was fabricated by the Congress.

Now, let's see who owns chanakyaindia.in ?

Only email Id is given ....#ConFakePollExposed pic.twitter.com/mWsek9h565

— Suresh Nakhua ☕☕ (@sureshnakhua) December 10, 2017

The same id also owns GujaratCongress.in #ConFakePollExposed pic.twitter.com/QjVGiKYebU

— Suresh Nakhua ☕☕ (@sureshnakhua) December 10, 2017

And BOOM

This Comet green Energy is owned / operated by same @rohanrgupta . This can be seen from data of unisafe.in

Now you know from where @rohanrgupta pulled out so many seats for Con in that tweet.#ConFakePollExposed pic.twitter.com/WP073a71G3

— Suresh Nakhua ☕☕ (@sureshnakhua) December 10, 2017

In addition, the legality of this survey is being questioned, since the Election Commission has disallowed carrying out of exit polls before the second phase of voting on 14 December.

Speaking to The Quint, Gupta asserted that the survey was an online opinion poll conducted by the IT cell of the party, and was not an exit poll. He further clarified that ‘Chanakya India’ is a portal set up by the party’s IT cell, and has nothing to do with Today’s Chanakya.

This is not an exit poll, this is online opinion. Anybody can go and post their opinion – it is 100 percent true. This is conducted by our IT cell, but it is open to the public. It is the real ground situation of Gujarat, that’s why they’re worried now. 

Rohan Gupta, National Media Coordinator, AICC

The same sentiments are echoed in other tweets on Gupta’s Twitter timeline, which has seen a busy 24 hours since the survey was posted on Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Today’s Chanakya has disassociated itself from the survey.

This survey doesn’t belongs to us. We have not released any such survey. Kindly Retweet. https://t.co/LHlEcX52Jc

— Today's Chanakya (@TodaysChanakya) December 10, 2017

Amid questions about using the name ‘Chanakya’ in the portal, Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi took a dig at Today’s Chanakya:

Hi @TodaysChanakya , didn't know Chanakya had made you the sole inheritor and proprietor of his name to carry out surveys. Do share Chanakya 's will with us lesser mortals too.

— Priyanka Chaturvedi (@priyankac19) December 11, 2017

The contest in Gujarat is heating up, with the state gearing up for the second phase of polling on 14 December. The votes will be counted on 18 December.