Fixed responsiblity for ‘breach’, Dainik Jagran tells poll officer

EXIT POLL

DAINIK JAGRAN has written to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), stating that the exit poll uploaded on its website on February 11 was approved by Varun Sharma, deputy editor of Jagran’s English website and “appropriate action” has been initiated against him.

According to sources, Ashutosh Shukla, Dainik Jagran’s state editor in UP, wrote to the CEO Tuesday, clarifying that the editorial team of the newspaper had nothing to do with the decision to carry the exit poll. He also informed that the management had taken note of the “breach” and Sharma was held responsible.

Sharma was among the editors whose homes were raided by UP Police late Monday night after the Election Commission ordered election officers of 15 districts to lodge separate criminal cases against the editorial heads of Dainik Jagran for uploading an exit poll on its website on the first phase of polling held in the state last week. Online editor of the Hindi daily, Shashank Shekhar Tripathi, was arrested Tuesday and later granted bail by a local court.

When The Indian Express contacted Sharma, he neither confirmed nor denied whether the Jagran Group had initiated any punitive action against him. “I can’t comment on this. Please give me some time,” he said over the phone. Shukla did not respond to calls and SMSES from this reporter. Jagran Group CEO and editor of the daily Sanjay Gupta was not reachable for comment.

Tripathi has stepped down as the online editor amid speculation that he has been asked by the management to resign. Denying rumours of his resignation, he told The Indian Express Wednesday, “Neither have I resigned nor has anyone asked me to resign,” he said. Features editor Kamlesh Raghuvanshi has been given additional charge as online editor. Raghuvanshi confirmed this but did not wish to comment further.

Section 126A(1) of the Representation of the People Act prohibits the conduct and publicising of an exit poll through print or electronic media during the period specified by the poll watchdog.

An offence under this section is punishable by imprisonment of up to two years or with fine or both. For the ongoing assembly elections in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Manipur, the EC, through a notification on January 27, banned exit polls from February 4 to March 8, the last day of voting.

However, on February 11, around 7.30 pm, Dainik Jagran released results of an exit poll on its website after polling in 73 seats got over. The exit poll agency, which claimed to have interviewed 5,700 voters across 38 Assembly seats covered under the first phase, projected BJP as the front-runner followed by BSP and the Sp-congress alliance. The results were taken down from the website Monday morning after the alleged violation was reported by a section of media.