Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Stung by The Indian Express-NDTV-A C Nielsen opinion poll that showed the Congress would struggle to touch the three-figure mark in the Lok Sabha elections, the party today claimed that market research agency A C Nielsen had distanced itself from the projections based on its field work.
But NDTV chief Prannoy Roy stood by the projections, saying these were in accordance with the methodology used for 25 years. The poll showed that the BJP-led NDA would get around 287 to 307 seats against the Congress-led alliance’s 143-163 seats. The Congress itself was expected to hover around the 95-105 mark.
Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal told reporters today that the party had contacted CEO OF A C Nielsen Partha Raksh. ‘‘He told us that this projection is not ours. ‘We have only done field work and whatever materials were collected were on passed to NDTV. The projection is by NDTV and not by A C Nielsen’.’’
In a statement, Roy defended the projections, pointing out: ‘‘My colleagues and I have been involved in electoral forecasting for over two decades now. There has been no change in the methodology and sample design that we have used for the past 25 years.’’
At the Congress press conference, Sibal displayed a letter apparently written by Raksh, and claimed the Nielsen CEO had told them he had done a survey as well as projections for Maharashtra on the request of NCP president Sharad Pawar and found that the Congress, NCP and RPI would get 31 seats contrary to the 20 projected in the opinion poll.
