Ahead of the Assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued a notification regarding exit and opinion polls for these elections.
According to the notice dated September 3, the publication of exit polls—whether through print, electronic media, or any other means—is prohibited from 7 am on Wednesday, September 18, until 6.30 pm on Saturday, October 5.
“The period between 7.00 am on 18.09.2024 (Wednesday) and 6.30 pm on 05.10.2024 (Saturday), as the period during which conducting and publishing or publicising exit poll by means of the print or electronic media or dissemination in any other manner whatsoever, the result of any exit poll in connection with the aforesaid general election, shall be prohibited,” the notification read.
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The ECI has clarified that any display of election-related material, including opinion poll results or surveys, will be prohibited on electronic media in the 48 hours leading up to the end of voting.
The Haryana assembly election, which covers 90 seats, will take place on October 5, with the deadline for nominations set for September 12.
In Jammu and Kashmir, which has 90 assembly constituencies (including 7 reserved for Scheduled Castes and 9 for Scheduled Tribes), there are 88.06 lakh eligible voters. In the last assembly elections, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won 28 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 25, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (NC) obtained 15, and the Congress won 12 seats.
The upcoming elections in Kashmir will be the first since the abrogation of Article 370, the voting process will be conducted in three phases, taking place on September 18, 25, and October 1.
On August 31, the ECI adjusted the polling date for Haryana from October 1 to October 5 and moved the vote counting for both Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana from October 4 to October 8.
(With PTI Inputs)