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Election Commission bans exit polls for Lok Sabha bypolls in Kashmir

by IBNS 01 Apr 2017, 08:29 am

Srinagar, Apr 1 (IBNS) : The Election Commission of India (ECI) has banned exit polls for Lok Sabha by-elections in Jammu and Kashmir, scheduled to be held between April 9 and April 16.

The by-elections are being held for two seats in Srinagar and Anantnag.


"In connection with the bye-elections to Srinagar and Anantnag Parliamentary constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir, the ECI has prohibited exit polls between 7 AM on April 9 and 6.30 PM on April 12," a notification issued by the commission said on Friday.

“In exercise of the powers under Sub-Section (1) of Section 126 A of the Representation of People’s Act 1951, ECI has notified the period between 7 am on April 9, 2017 and 6.30 pm on April 12, 2017 during which conducting any exit poll and publishing or publicizing by means of the print or electronic media or dissemination in any other manner
whatsoever, the result of any exit poll shall be prohibited,” says the notification. 

The notification says  under Section-126 (1) (b) of the R P Act 1951,  displaying any election matter including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey, in any electronic media, would  be prohibited during the period of 48 hours ending with the hours fixed for conclusion of poll for bye-elections.



(Reporting by Saleem Iqbal Qadri)