 "MCD elections: State election commission bars publication of exit polls")
The State Election Commission in Delhi on Thursday prohibited the publication of exit poll projections in both print and broadcast media after polling for the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on December 4.
A release by the State Election Commission on Thursday read, "As per the schedule of election notified by the State Election Commission, Delhi, polling for MCD elections will be held from 0800 hrs to 1730 hrs on 04.12.2022."
The state poll panel further notified that "between 0800 hrs of December 4, 2022 till 1730 hrs of December 5, 2022, as the period during which conducting of any Exit Poll and publishing or publicising by means of the print or electronic media & dissemination in any other manner whatsoever the result of any exit poll in connection with General Elections to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi shall be prohibited".
The state poll panel took cognizance of the fact that the Election Commission (ED) had prohibited the publication exit poll projections from 0800 hrs 12.11.2022 to 1730 hrs on 05.12.2022 in Himachal Pradesh, which went to polls on November 12.
The central poll had also issued a simnilar directive ahead of the Gujarat Assemnbly polls.
"In the interest of free and fair polls, which are uninfluenced & where electors are able to vote in an unbiased manner, it is imperative to regulate Opinion and Exit polls in the spirit of provisions enshrined in the RP Act, 1951," the release said.
"In the exercise of powers under Article 243K read with Article 243ZA & Section 7 of the DMC Act, 1957, the State Election Commissioner has prohibited displaying of any election matter, including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey in any media, including electronic in connection with General Elections to Municipal Corporation of Delhi from 1730 hrs 02/12/2022 to 1730 hrs 04/12/2022," the release by the state poll panel further informed.
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The counting of votes for the 250-ward MCD will take place on December 7.
The polls are shaping up to be a two-way contest between the BJP, which currently holds the civic reins in the national capital, and the AAP, which is in power in the state.
Notably, the BJP has been at the helm of the civic body since 2007.
In the last civic polls in 2017, the BJP won 181 wards while the AAP had won 48. The Congress could only win 27 seats.
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