Govt has doubts on exit poll Ordinance

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is having second thoughts on issuing an Ordinance banning exit polls, fearing it could mark the start of judicial intervention in the electoral process and herald a kind of pre-censorship that could abridge Article 19 (2) of the Constitution, guaranteeing freedom of speech and expression and expressly stating the circumstances in which such speech and expression may be curtailed.

Sources said the matter had gone to the law ministry, which was studying the issue after political parties unanimously told the Election Commission that they wanted a ban on opinion and exit polls.

The BJP's view yesterday was that while opinion polls were acceptable, it was happy going along with the rare consensus among political parties that exit polls should be banned till 5 pm on May 10, the last day of voting.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal and BJP leader VK Malhotra said the political parties were unanimous in seeking such a ban.

Sources said exit polls had been banned in Britain because Britain had an unwritten Constitution that was open to interpretation. But this was not the case in India, where the Constitution had express clauses stating conditions in which fundamental rights could be suspended.

A mere consensus among political parties on an issue was not enough reason for the government to issue an ordinance that might be violative of the Constitution, sources said.

But the fact that the proposal to ban exit polls was a unanimous one was the problem, sources admitted.

The additional issue was slanderous political discourse. If each time a leader made a speech, it had to be taken to the Election Commission for clearance, there would be no end to the interference of the executive in the electoral process.

Party leaders said the law ministry was likely to discuss the matter with the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee before taking a stand.