Fixed? : India Today suspends C-voter survey after sting

New Delhi, Feb 26: The India Today Group said on Tuesday that it was suspending all opinion polls being carried out by polling agency C-Voter for the group after a television news channel claimed a sting operation conducted by it had revealed that some of the agencies which conduct opinion polls before elections are willing to tweak their findings for money.

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"We are examining the allegations levelled in the sting operation very seriously. In the interim, we are suspending all opinion polls being carried out by C-Voter for the India Today Group. A show-cause notice is also being sent to C-Voter seeking a response on the charges levelled by the news channel," Puneet Jain, head of legal, India Today Group, said in a statement.

At a press conference, the channel, News Express, claimed its sting operation had "exposed" 11 agencies which conducted opinion polls. Vinod Kapri, editor-in-chief of the channel, said it was showing the sting in order to make voters aware and added that it would also provide details to the Election Commission.

Yashwant Deshmukh, managing director and chief editor of C-Voter, said on his Twitter handle that he hoped Kapri, whom he referred to as his "dear old friend", would also show him "denying all his efforts and saying clearly that C-Voter and Yashwant can't do such things".

He also tweeted, "what my legal person has to do; will do. what i have to do; will do. what my team has to do; will do. we are busy with our next poll." India Today said, "The credibility of what we publish is of paramount importance to our group and we will not accept any misconduct by any agency which has been contracted by our organization."

PTI