Attorney General: Can ban opinion polls,Election Commission of India, Opinion poll ban, EC, ban Opinion poll during election ,election updates, lok sabha poll 2104, assembly election 2013.
- Details
- Category: National Political News
- Last Updated: Thursday, 22 January 2015 20:49
Attorney General: Can ban opinion polls.
Even as the Election Commission of India (EC) pushes the central government to bring in a law to ban opinion polls during elections, the Union Ministry of Law and Justice is facing a peculiar problem.
Attorney General Goolam E Vahanvati has assured the government that any ban on opinion polls as sought by the EC would be "constitutionally permissible".
But the law ministry's problem is that there is an earlier opinion, given on April 8, 2004 by then Attorney General Soli Sorabjee, which says that any prohibition on opinion polls would be unconstitutional.
"The two opinions say the exact opposite of each other. We will have to tread cautiously as there is a possibility that somebody might go to court to challenge the decision. In 1998, the EC tried to ban opinion polls, but had to later withdraw the guidelines issued by it after the matter reached the Supreme Court. We are examining all aspects in the mater," said a senior officer.
Click here to see the More political news updates....>>>
As first reported by The Indian Express, the EC has sought amendment to the law to allow banning of opinion polls once the election process begins. The EC communication also points out that exit polls are already banned till completion of polling, since parliament passed the Representation of the People (Second Amendment) Bill in 2009.
The ban on opinion polls has been sought on the ground that they confuse the voters, thereby affecting the sanctity of the poll process. Incidentally, almost all political parties have unanimously supported a ban on opinion polls.
In his opinion in 2004, Sorabjee had termed a proposed ordinance by the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to ban exit and opinion polls as being violative of the right to freedom of speech and expression granted under Article 19(1)(a) of the constitution.
He had opined that just because political parties had a problem with exit and opinion polls, the right to freedom of speech and expression of citizens couldn't be curtailed.
source:indianexpress.com