Congress jittery, on the back foot, seeks ban on opinion polls; BJP sees red

New Delhi: After the CNN-IBN-The Week-CSDS survey and other polls showed the Congress losing ground ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party has written to the Election Commission insisting opinion polls should be banned. The BJP, which is seen as one of the major beneficiaries of the space vacated by the Congress, has opposed any move to ban pre-poll surveys saying that such a move is aimed at restricting free speech.

"Opinion polls should be banned. This has become a joke," said an agitated Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh, just days after most pre-poll studies projected a hammering for his party in the upcoming Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.

While Singh has criticised the opinion polls carried out in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi; in March 2012, on the day Congress was routed in Uttar Pradesh, it was the same Congress leader who had conceded the joke on surveys was on him. "Rajdeep, I concede I have lost the bet and you have won. I owe you a dinner."

Ironically the Congress assertion that surveys are erroneous, lack credibility and are manipulated by vested interests, has never been articulated when such polls show the party winning like in Karnataka Assembly elections in May 2013.

"All indicators show Congress is ahead. This is what the people of Karnataka want," Karnataka Congress leader Dinesh Gundurao had then said.

Even other parties had praised the opinion polls then. "I will like to congratulate CNN-IBN," said Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, acknowledging the accuracy of opinion polls that had predicted his party's win in the Assembly elections.

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Badal too had backed such surveys when his party won. "I wish to congratulate CNN-IBN. You gave good news to people before we knew," he said.

Ironically, parties rubbish unfavourable polls by media but cite their own studies as objective and a truism. "From whatever angle we see, we are winning 40-50 seats," Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal said on surveys conducted by his party for Delhi Assembly elections.

While the Congress had attempted an ordinance to lawfully prevent opinion polls, but the party stopped short sensing opposition. Now the BJP says only a loser demands a ban. In a high strung election banning such polls may well turn it into a debate of free speech and democracy as many actually argue why a ban isn't like questioning the maturity of the Indian electorate.