NEW DELHI: The All India Trinamool Congress on Thursday written to
Sebi
and urged the market regulator to investigate the exit polls that predicted a landslide victory for the BJP-NDA in the Lok Sabha elections.
In his letter, TMC leader Saket Gokhale alleged that pollsters manipulated the exit polls to influence stock markets, stating, “Investors made massive profits on June 3 after the markets rose on the back of exit poll results.
However, on June 4, investors suffered losses of over 31 lakh crore. In the interest of protection of investors, it is important to determine if the India Today Axis MyIndia exit polls were rigged or intentionally skewed in favor of the BJP-led NDA which led to the unprecedented rally in the markets on 3rd June.”
Gokhale further said, “The exit polls were clearly manipulated to rally the
stock market
. Lakhs of crores of investors’ money was later wiped off after the markets crashed. There must be an
investigation
to determine if pollsters like Axis MyIndia intentionally inflated the exit polls for the BJP. This is important because Axis MyIndia also had BJP as a client.”
The demand for an investigation comes in the wake of significant difference between exit poll predictions and the actual Lok Sabha election results on June 4, which resulted in substantial losses in the stock market.
Gokhale highlighted the inaccuracy of the predictions, particularly in Bengal, where exit polls predicted 26-31 seats for the BJP, while the party secured only 12 seats, an exaggeration of 116-158% beyond the standard margin of error.
The poll of polls had predicted that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance would secure more than 350 seats. However, the actual results fell short of the predictions, with the BJP-led NDA winning 293 seats, causing a 6% market crash on June 4.
As Prime Minister Modi prepares to take oath for the third time on June 8 with the support of allies TDP and JD(U), the markets are still in the process of recovery.
