We are an impatient lot (myself included). Even though the election results were due on 16th May, news channels were eagerly awaiting for the last phase of election to conclude so that they could start projecting number of seats that parties were likely to garner and who would form the next government. (It is as if all criminals and wrong-doers had gone on strike in India and there was nothing happening in the country worth reporting till the election results were out. Funnily, you would have noticed once the elections got over, channels started finding enough ‘regular news’ to report and manage to hold your attention even without any elections! They are so good at it!
Last few days any news channel that one switched to, one could see numbers getting flashed on TV screen indicating likely performance of parties at state and national level. Of course, the numbers differed from one channel to another, reasons being: tie-ups with various research companies having their own unique methodology, differences in sample type/size etc. One may try to be as neutral as possible but I am sure personal prejudices also would have played a role in at least interpreting the results. Despite all these limitations and past record of highly off-the-mark projections, we had experts on all channels screaming from the rooftops and explaining as to why the results (exit poll numbers) had come the way they had, what went right for the winners, what went wrong for the losers and how those fence sitters would play a vital role in formation of the government, mind you all this drama happened while we were still awaiting the ‘actual results!’
If there is one issue on which I agree with the congress party wholeheartedly, it is their decision to refrain from indulging in any kind of debate on exit polls. One may argue here saying they have been avoiding it as they were most likely to be on the losing side. But the fact remains that even during the last couple of elections, which I followed with great interest; they were never keen on discussing the exit poll numbers. Also please note that my reasons for disliking exit polls are very different from those of Congress party. I don’t like the idea of speculating when it comes to elections as it takes the fun out of it and Congress does not like it as they are mostly shown as a close/distant second! But now that as a party they have taken a stand, they will regret it later in case there are exit polls in future showing Congress on the winning side as they will not be in a position to participate in exit poll debates and capitalize on the same!
This time the situation was such that predicting an NDA was like stating the obvious! And still when it came to numbers, most of the channels got it wrong! I just feel we need to rid ourselves of this obsession with exit polls and wait for the ‘actual result’ as exit polls do not serve any purpose. Let there be no place for speculation in such matters, it just takes the excitement out of the whole exercise. And considering most of the projected poll numbers were poles apart from the actual numbers, it is about time we showed the exit door to the exit polls!
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