The Hindu : Karnataka News : Opinion polls are a matter of right: leaders

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 13, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Opinion polls are a matter of right: leaders

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, APRIL 12. A seminar on the ethics and impact of publication of pre-poll surveys here on Monday felt that any attempt to curb them would have unsavoury repercussions. This was because conducting objective opinion polls and knowing their outcomes were the fundamental rights of the media and the people, respectively. The seminar was organised by the Karnataka Union of Working Journalists.

Presenting his view, the Congress representative, V.R. Sudarshan, said opinion polls that were not politically motivated should be welcomed. But the political leanings of the organisation conducting the polls, its professional skills, and the method, rationality and degree of objectivity of the survey should be subjected to thorough scrutiny before the results were published.

Pramila S. Nesargi of the Bharatiya Janata Party said knowing the opinion of others on political parties and the candidates was the right of every eligible voter just as it was the right of the media.

The issue basically was about people and the press exercising their respective rights and responsibilities. Neither the Government nor the Election Commission could snatch away the media's right to publish or broadcast or telecast opinion poll results and an individual's right to know "what is in the minds of other people about political parties and politicians," she said.

K. Sathyanarayana, former Editor of Kannada Prabha daily, traced the history of pre-poll surveys, and said the surveys being conducted now by reputable professional bodies were more scientific than the earlier ones.

However, the argument about the influence of such pre-poll surveys on voters could not be denied.

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