Poll surveys tweak findings for money, alleges sting operation

A TV news channel on Tuesday claimed that a sting operation conducted by it had shown that some of the agencies which conduct opinion polls before elections are willing to tweak their findings for money.

At a press conference, the channel, News Express, claimed that its sting operation had "exposed" 11 agencies which conducted opinion polls. It, however, added that some poll agencies it tried to contact did not respond at all.

The Lok Sabha elections are due by May.

The channel's Editor-in-Chief Vinod Kapri said it was showing the sting operation in order to make the voters more aware and provide relevant details to the Election Commission.

When asked whether the sting operation has brought to light anything suspicious related to the involvement of any political party, the channel did not name any specific survey or any party.

Shortly after the sting operation, the India Today Group suspended all opinion polls being carried out by C-Voter polling agency for it, in the wake of the allegations levelled in the sting on the conduct of some of the agencies.

In a statement, the media group said it has taken cognizance of the investigation and was examining the allegations levelled in the sting very seriously.

In the interim, it was suspending all opinion polls being carried out by C-Voter.

The media group has contracted C-Voter News Services Private Limited for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections to conduct various opinion polls for it.

The statement said a show-cause notice is also being sent to C-Voter seeking a response on the charges levelled by the news channel.

"The credibility of what we publish is of paramount importance to our group and we will not accept any misconduct by any agency which has been contracted by our organisation," it added.