Election pre-poll private survey calls irk public

Bengaluru: Some private polling teams are pouring in phone calls to gauge voter turnout. Answering these calls, the voters are getting tired. The caller asks, "Hello, we are conducting a survey. Who are you voting for? Who did you vote for last time? Who should bag power at the Centre? What do you think of the candidate? Will you vote for him/her?".

Along with the candidates of national parties, many Independent candidates are in the fray. However, the candidates contesting in the elections have resorted to surveys conducted by private organizations to know about the preferences of their voters in the constituency before officially starting the election campaign.

The special thing is that this survey conducted by private organisations will be handed over to the candidates confidentially and will not be revealed publicly. Candidates who are in the field by choosing major private organizations are paying to conduct surveys to know the wave in their favour in the field and are trying to know the mood of the voters before campaigning.

They will be preparing to conduct their election campaign on the basis of how the report will come in the survey. They are ready to formulate strategies on how to campaign where there is no adequate response from the voters.

Every time the dates of Lok Sabha and Assembly elections are announced, many organizations come up to conduct surveys. While some reputable organizations are sought by political leaders, newly established organizations go to the candidates and tell them that if they give them a pre-agreed sum, they will conduct a survey in the field and give a report on how they are inclined in your favour. During elections, it is a feast for such organizations.

The staff of the organization that collects the mobile numbers of the voters of the constituency, is conducting an election-related survey and will ask four or five questions about who you voted for last time and who you should vote for this time. They call people from all over the constituency and gather information and consolidate the overall opinion and give it to the candidates. There are also allegations that voters are being harassed by calling on the pretext of polls. There are allegations that the purchase of details and phone numbers of workers in Bidadi and Harohalli industrial areas is going on behind the scenes. Based on these details, the surveying agencies are calling the voters.

The public is already getting harassed in the name of surveys. Pollsters are asking voters a list of questions through calls. So the public is turning on the spam to avoid the call. Apart from this, candidate collects the mobile numbers of voters in his constituency and sends a text message to each one. This work was done in the last election as well.

It is special to call in the name of the candidate, Chief Minister or Prime Minister during the festive season during the election and greet them. Thus the surveys are going online and it is special that the people's representatives have started an unprecedented exercise to know the difference between the voters. In recent elections, the number of polls conducted by private organizations is higher than the polls conducted by the media. These are survey reports that candidates themselves pay for.