EC bans opinion and exit polls in assembly elections

Publication and dissemination of results of opinion and exit polls of assembly polls in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh will be banned from tomorrow till the end of polling, the Election Commission said today.

The ban period would start from 3PM tomorrow and end at 5PM on October 13 when the polling concludes, the EC said in a press note.

As per Supreme Court guidelines, in case of a single phase election, result of opinion and exit polls carried out at any time, cannot be published, publicised or disseminated in any manner during the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for conclusion of poll, it said. The campaign for the over month-long exercise comes to an end tomorrow.

The commission said the hour fixed for conclusion of poll in Arunachal Pradesh and in some constituencies of Maharashtra is 3PM. In Haryana, the hour fixed for conclusion of poll is 5PM.