Appreciating the EC's stand which does not allow opinion polls from the the date of notification of elections till the final phase of polling, Kejriwal said AAP does not favour a blanket ban on opinion polls, but request the Election Commission to ensure there is a code of conduct in place for the telecast and publication of opinion polls.
“The EC has been pro-active in seeking changes in the Representation of the People Act to update this law for meeting fresh challenges in the conduct of free and fair elections and needs to be complimented for its efforts,” Kejriwal said.
“In this regard, I would request the commission to once again renew its efforts to remind the lawmakers, particularly the government to ensure that no motivated attempts are allowed to succeed to mislead the people during the forthcoming lok sabha elections, he added.
Meanwhile, in another letter to News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) Chairperson, Kejriwal urged it to get the veracity of the allegations shown in sting “Operation Prime Minister” carried out by a TV news channel, News Express, and telecast on February 25 checked and conduct an enquiry into the role of news channels in broadcasting “manipulated” polls.
In the letter to NBSA Chairperson Justice (retired) R V Raveendran, Kejriwal said, “The AAP firmly belives that criminal investigation should be carried out by a special Investigation Team (SIT), preferably monitored by the Supreme Court to verify all the allegations contained in this sting and get to the bottom of this political conspiracy regarding the role of political parties in manipulating the findings of opinion polls in the recent past.”
