Election Commission bans exit polls from April 19 to June 1

The Election Commission has issued a notification banning the conduct, publication or publicising of exit polls between 7.00 am of April 19 and 6.30 pm of June 1 when votes will be cast for the Lok Sabha and four state assembly polls.

The notification issued on Thursday also made it clear that under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, displaying any election matter including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey, in any electronic media, would be prohibited during the 48-hour period ending with the time fixed for the conclusion of the poll.

Besides Lok Sabha polls, assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim are going for elections.

Separately, bye-election to 25 assembly constituencies in 12 states are also being held in this period.