New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to three major political parties, four newspapers and five television channels on a petition seeking a proper ban/regulation of opinion and exit polls during elections.

A Bench consisting of Justice A. R. Lakshmanan and Justice Dalveer Bhandari, issued the notice to the Congress; the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Telugu Desam Party; The Hindu , The Times of India, The Hindustan Times and The Indian Express; and the Sahara, Zee, Star, NDTV and TV Today television channels, asking them to file their reply to the petition filed by D. K. Thakur in 2004. The court had already issued notice to the Centre, the Election Commission and the Press Council.

Notice was issued on the application seeking that the political parties and the media organisations be impleaded.

The petitioner submitted that the telecast or publication of opinion/exit polls was having a deleterious effect and influence on the electors when they were in the process of making up their minds to vote or not to vote for a certain political party or candidate.

The methodology followed in conducting such opinion/exit polls varied from organisation to organisation. As a result, such polls were always off the mark and affected free and fair elections.

The petitioner said the voters generally were influenced by such poll results and this was nothing but undue influence as it affected their psyche.

In its reply, the Centre said that at present there was no law to prohibit the publication of exit/opinion polls on the basis of the reasoning that it unduly influenced the voter's mind. It said that it would be for the Election Commission to issue due directions/frame guidelines without infringing the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression.

The Press Council said that it had laid down certain guidelines, but these did not prohibit the conduct of such polls.

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