“Since most of the exit poll forecasts in recent years have been wide off the mark for one or the other reason, the people within and outside Jammu & Kashmir are hardly impressed by the post poll exit polls release by both the national level and local pollsters.”
Unfortunately the track record of exit polls is not as impressive as it should and once more the exit polls about Jammu & Kashmir assembly elections released by even the national level pollsters are not impressing the people the way they should have impressed them. Notably the recent exit polls about 2024 Lok Sabha elections also did not come true and credibility of most of the national level pollsters as such was reduced to an all time low across the country. Since most of the exit poll forecasts in recent years have been wide off the mark for one or the other reason, the people within and outside Jammu & Kashmir are hardly impressed by the post poll exit polls release by both the national level and local pollsters. Finding exit polls off the mark again and again has finally reduced the interest of the people in the release of even the post poll exit polls the euphoria of which lasts for not more than 2-3 days. Since the poll forecasts of even the top political strategist of the country Prashant Kishore about the recent Lok Sabha elections also went wrong, the people have all right reasons to show no interest in post poll exit polls. Interestingly Prashant Kishore instead of doing his job as political strategist has now himself launch a political party in Bihar. Unfortunately people now debate and discuss the post poll exit polls only for fun but not about their accuracy. The increasing doubts about the role of political parties in manipulating the conduct of the exit polls has hugely reduced their credibility also in recent years . So for obvious people there is no disagreement over the general public opinion that media outlets and polling agencies have developed a strong interest in manipulating the exit polls for the convenience of one or the other political party.
“The exit polls about Jammu & Kashmir Assembly elections if found wide off the mark like Lok Sabha elections would be yet another blow to the fast reducing credibility of national pollsters and as well as local media outlets . Since the track record of the exit polls themselves show that they are unscientific and biased in favour of one or other political party obviously obviously for some pecuniary benefits, Professional ethics demands that both the national level pollsters as well as local media outlets review the methods and practices they adopt for conduct of post poll exit polls to regain the lost ground in short time.”
While the basic object of the post poll exist polls is to attract huge public attraction, the post poll exit polls don’t develop the euphoria they used to develop a decade ago. So post poll exit polls developing no influence on the official results have eroded the credibility of both the national level and as well as local media outlets not only in Jammu & Kashmir but in every part of the country. The exit polls about Jammu & Kashmir Assembly elections if found wide off the mark like Lok Sabha elections would be yet another blow to the fast reducing credibility of national pollsters and as well as local media outlets . Since the track record of the exit polls themselves show that they are unscientific and biased in favour of one or other political party obviously obviously for some pecuniary benefits, Professional ethics demands that both the national level pollsters as well as local media outlets review the methods and practices they adopt for conduct of post poll exit polls to regain the lost ground in short time.
Shafqat Bukhari
