7.3. Exit polls & Opinion polls

An exit poll is a post-election survey conducted immediately after people have voted. EC bans exit polls from the time the poll begins till half-an-hour after the polling ends. Exit poll results cannot be published till the last round of elections is over. It covers even other states when polls are being held in more than one. For eg. In 2017 state elections in Punjab, Goa, UP, Uttarakhand and Manipur, exit poll results cannot be published till voting for the current round of elections in these five states ends.

An opinion poll is a pre-election survey to gather voters’ views on a range of election-related issues. Results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey in any electronic media is prohibited during the period 48 hours, including the hour fixed for conclusion of voting in each of the phases in connection with the elections.