MyVoice: Views of our readers 9th March 2022

Let's wait for the actual poll results…

Again the exit polls predicted a clear win for the BJP and allied parties in Uttar Pradesh but with a reduced majority. It also predicted BJP is going to win in majority states. But I think people's pulse is different. Samajwadi Party chief predicted that BJP will be wiped out in UP, let us wait till 10th of this month whether this exit polls surveys will be right or wrong. Sometimes these exit polls and opinion polls may prove accurate but many times these opinion polls have proved totally wrong. Though by law television channels are allowed to run opinion polls ahead of the polls ,these opinion polls are definitely misleading the voters . The Election Commission of India cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the dubious practice. The Election Commission should take cognisance of opinion polls and regulate them.

Zeeshaan. Kazipet

A victory for negative campaign?

Apropos "BJP set to retain UP with reduced majority and AAP to unseat Congress in Punjab (8 March). If the predictions match with actual counting on March 10, the BJP win will not because of party's performance but a negative message against the main rival SP beginning with Abba Jaan, Bulldozer and lastly Operation Danga a term used by MP Chief Minister to claim PM Modi was organising Operation Ganga to rescue students from Ukraine. With negative messages against SP, people saw a better option in BJP as compared SP as another viable option Congress which could not match both BJP who had more resources both money and humans with the full back up provided by PM Modi who seem to have temporarily don the role of Chief Minister of election bound UP.

N Nagarajan, Hyderabad

Unreliable exit polls

Why do opinion polls in India fail to provide reliable guidance? For one thing, it isn't easy to select a sample for polling. A sample size of 1,000 suffices in the West, but there is no consensus about the right size and character of a reliable sample in India and more so 70% of the electorate resides in areas inaccessible and media doesn't reach them. Secondly, Indian research agencies depend on responses from village leaders, whereas the leaders themselves may later vote differently and that is how we Indians respond to questions is often influenced by our perception of the status of the interviewer. Despite all the predictions and opinion poll results it will be a neck to neck fight everywhere as opinion polls go wrong in many cases.

C K Subramaniam, Navi Mumbai

Time running out

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to the two leaders, in providing safe passage to Indian students holed up in Sumy, seeking support of both Russia and Ukraine for the evacuation of civilians from Sumy as Kyiv has rejected Moscow's proposal to provide escape routes and safe passage from Sumy and other Ukrainian cities as these routes go through Russia and Belarus is a bad news for India. The prospect of immediate ceasefire and talks in this regard alone will help people leave for safer zones as Ukraine is fast slipping into a worsening humanitarian situation, and a civil war-like state is prevailing in the country as stores and supermarkets are being looted by the public for want of food and water. Time is fast running out for India, in terms of "Operation Ganga".

K V Raghuram, Wayanad

What is happening in Ukraine is somewhat hazy. Still the pictures graphically show how Ukraine is ravaged by war. The versions by Russia and Ukraine of what is happening in the war-torn country conflict. The truth about the 'humanitarian corridors' (opened and being opened) is lost in inaccurate information. It is Ukraine's clamour that the routes from these corridors lead to either Russia or Belarus. Be that as it may, it is a fact attested to by the UN that more than 2 million people have fled Ukraine as refugees to 'friendly' neighbouring countries. Ukraine says that Russia is deliberately targetting civilians. It is denied by Russia.

The UN head of humanitarian affairs has made a fervent call to spare civilians. Ukraine exemplifies how innocent civilians become the unwitting victims of geopolitical games world leaders play. It is a time of scarcity, a scarcity of food, water, medicines and other essentials in Ukraine. What Ukraine goes through is a humanitarian crisis of enormous proportions. Vladimir Putin continues to maintain that the 'special military operation' is meant 'to demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine'.

There is no sign of an imminent ceasefire as Ukraine looks at the Russian invasion as an unprovoked military aggression and rules out acceding to Putin's demands that it should remain 'neutral' without taking the West's or Russia's side, it should openly declare that it won't join NATO and it should recognize Crimea and breakaway regions as Russian territories and Putin is adamant on his demands. It is senseless and futile to continue the war. The sooner the realization that 'diplomacy is better than war' dawns on all those who are responsible for the Russian-Ukrainian war, the better for the warring countries and the wider world.

G David Milton, Maruthancode, TN