Tag: AAP

Election tracker: Cricket over News

The upcoming election is not just being fought on the ground; political parties have laid siege to airwaves as well.

So much so, followers of the ICC Twenty20 World Cup will vouch for the fact that ‘commercial breaks’ are beginning to resemble the battle cry of the main contenders as they unleash newer segments of their respective campaigns on unsuspecting viewers.

Not without reason for in a country where cricket is religion, the ‘clever’ agencies behind these rival campaigns are only putting their money where their mouth is.

And so we have the Congress continuing to showcase all the good work done in the past decade, with the common man always at the centre, even in the new TVCs. While BJP changes its hitherto serious tone and takes a dig at the Congress in a rather comical way. Whether the saffron party has diluted the message it wants to send out is something the audience may continue to debate but one way or the other, cricket comes across as a critical component of the election strategy.

Speaking of reach, daily soaps on general entertainment channels are watched by a majority of women in the country. With women forming 49 per cent of the voting population, the main players in this election can least afford to ignore this format. Neither can they shrug off the growing importance of digital platforms; especially in an election year when there will be close to 12 crore first-time voters, most of them always online. Hence, political outfits, even the likes of CPI (M), are pulling out all stops to woo the youth in the virtual world to get them to cast their vote in the real world.

Surprisingly however, news channels are still untouched by the flurry of political advertisements. In case you’re wondering why, news channels don’t enjoy the kind of reach that other television channels, say GECs, do. Then again, eyeballs will flow to news channels closer to the election dates for news and analyses. Maybe, that’s when the ad blitzkrieg will hit these channels as well…

March 26, 2014
LCOs list grievances for new government to address

NEW DELHI: Hurt by the manner in which they have been forced to adapt to digital access systems without proper safeguards for their minimum incomes, organisations of cable television operators have sought a review of digitisation and action against the people involved in creating large media monopolies from all the political parties.

In a letter sent to all the main political parties in the fray for the forthcoming general elections, the National Cable and Telecommunication Association (NCTA) and Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI) on behalf of 60,000 local cable operators have listed certain demands that should be considered by all the political parties.

They have sought extension of the cable TV digitisation process by allowing analogue transmission of about basic 30 to 36 TV channels including all Doordarshan services. This step is for avoiding any black-outs.

The government should also instruct the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to ensure a level playing field for all the stake holders in the distribution value chain with a prescribed revenue share arrangement on non discriminatory terms. “It should also fix reasonable and affordable prices for the Pay TV channels and ensure that the advertisement cap for the pay TV channels should be lowered to maximum six minutes in an hour,” said the letter.

The letter also highlighted the issue of the 10+2 advertisement cap regulation for FTA (free to air) channels. “It must be made mandatory,” the letter stated.

Apart from this, there were also demands like finalising strict guidelines on cross media holdings and checking monopoly in the cable TV industry. “The Government should implement phase III and phase IV of digitisation only if there is adequate supply of Indian Set Top Boxes (STB), and the industry should get a subsidy on the excise and VAT till digitisation is achieved 100 per cent in the country.”

The government should abolish entertainment tax levied by the various state governments and TV viewing should be termed as an essential information service.

The memorandum have been sent to major political parties and leaders like Narendra Modi of BJP, Rahul Gandhi of Congress and Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi.

According to NCTA president Vikki Choudhary and COFI president Roop Sharma, the new Union government should conduct an enquiry on the implementation of mandatory digitisation of cable TV.

March 26, 2014
NBA, DUJ condemn AAP’s remarks about media

NEW DELHI: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has expressed shock at what it described as ‘the unverified and objectionable’ allegations being made by Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal and his associates against news television channels. The leaders of AAP have been alleging that news channels have been “paid” by rival political parties to drive their agenda in the run up to the general elections.

NBA has reminded Kejriwal and his associates that the electronic media is independent and is discharging its responsibilities in a fair, transparent and balanced manner and urged AAP not to hurl unsubstantiated and unverified charges at the electronic media.

NBA requested Arvind Kejriwal, the convener of AAP, to immediately refrain from making such preposterous allegations failing which NBA members would be forced to reconsider coverage of the activities of the Aam Aadmi Party.

The Ethics Council of the Delhi Union of Journalists also condemned both repeated vile sniping against select media channels and the equally venomous threats to select media by the AAP.

It said the DUJ is deeply concerned at the falling standards of objectivity in media coverage of the current elections by some TV channels, working on the assumption that they are key players in deciding who will rule the country.

Sensationalism and hype are very evident these days in election reporting, particularly in coverage by television channels and other electronic media. Attempts to influence and manipulate the media through various means are also in evidence.

The DUJ said: “As journalists, we cannot condone the AAP Party’s strong language against the media in various papers on 15 March but we also recognise that the media itself loses credibility if it carries paid news and biased views. Hence we demand an impartial inquiry by the Election Commission into the allegations made into the election coverage so far.”

The Press Council too must objectively examine the election coverage to detect any irregularities rather than just issue guidelines which these days are not followed.

The DUJ further demanded that the Election Commission conduct an impartial inquiry into the ostensibly objective election polls being flashed by various media. The allegations of manipulation of poll results on behalf of various political parties need to be addressed.

The DUJ added that the economic crisis has made the media, particularly the electronic media, vulnerable to influence from big advertisers. It is well known that the election propaganda budgets of the two main political parties are enormous and that much of this money is being fuelled into the media, whether in the form of advertising or otherwise. Some other parties also have substantial budgets for media campaigns. The spate of government advertising over the past months has been clearly aimed at influencing the voting patterns in favour of the ruling party. The increasing ownership of media by powerful corporate houses is also adversely influencing the media’s objectivity.

DUJ president Sujata Madhok and General Secretary S K Pande said: “We uphold the right of all journalists to report news and views freely and fearlessly. We call for greater vigilance within the media to ensure that the highest standards of professionalism prevail.”

March 17, 2014
Who will be the next PM?

MUMBAI: In a series of interrelated opinion and exit polls over the next two months NDTV will be conducting among the biggest and most rigorous polling exercises ever – covering over 350 (out of the 543) Lok Sabha constituencies with a total sample size of over 2 lakh. The sample selection methodology is based on electoral rolls to ensure a random sample with other technology innovations and new methods of interviewing voters (for example, wherever feasible, women field-workers interviewed female voters).

Witness the biggest election coverage in the history of Indian television as NDTV presents the most credible, non-partisan, non-sensational election analysis.

The channel will also undertake a separate re-contact exercise through phone calls just before the elections to gauge shift of voters’ opinion over time. More than 350 constituencies will be covered across the opinion polls and the Exit Poll will also cover more than 350 constituencies. These opinion polls will be conducted in three phases which will seek to understand the mood of the nation and electoral preferences for parties; get a pulse of the nation and analyse shifts in voter perception and preference followed by an Exit Poll for seat prediction state-by-state.

NDTV will be using innovative methods to ensure better data quality which will include regular updates and tracking through mobile telephonic-surveys, votes to seats conversion based on proprietary IPR using homogenous swing zones, multi-party swings and margins of victory and changes in the extent of vote-splitting in each homogeneous swing zone.

Fieldwork and interviews conducted by Hansa Research Group. Watch Prannoy Roy and Dorab Sopariwala present India’s BIGGEST EVER Opinion Poll on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 March from 8-10pm

March 13, 2014
CNN-IBN & IBN7 are back with Kings & Queens

MUMBAI: Living up to its legacy of offering the most extensive and diverse election programming line-up in the industry, CNN-IBN & IBN7 are back with ‘Kings & Queens’. The show will profile key political leaders such as Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi to name a few, who are likely to play a central and defining role in the 2014 General Elections.

Fronted by IBN Network’s senior-most and best known anchors-Deputy Editor Sagarika Ghose, National Bureau Chief Bhupendra Chaubey, Deputy Foreign Editor Suhasini Haidar and Senior Editor Anubha Bhosle, ‘Kings & Queens’ will examine the life and political careers of these key individuals, and will examine how they could emerge as a King or a Queen or be a King-maker. The documentaries will include people who are significant in their lives-their classmates, close relatives, mentors, friends, strongest allies as well as critics.

Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief, CNN-IBN, IBN7 & IBN-Lokmat, said, “As we approach the most crucial elections in the history of India, we have a diverse and extensive election based programming in the pipeline. To help our viewers know their leaders better, we bring to you our much acclaimed documentary series Kings and Queens, which will trace the journey of political leaders who are set to influence the upcoming General Election significantly.”

Don’t miss this special documentary series starting from 28th February, every Friday 10.00 PM only on CNN-IBN & 1st March onwards every Saturday 10.30 PM only on IBN7.

February 27, 2014
NBA asks politicians to keep political discourse civil and sane

MUMBAI: New channels normally throw the spotlight on politicians. As the ensuing elections to the Lok Sabha are turning out to be the most bitterly fought, it is the new channels that are coming under attack from politicians.

Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal recently lashed out at TV news channels. He accused the news channels of being biased towards BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress’ poll campaign chief Rahul Gandhi.

On Monday, home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde shocked the media fraternity when he claimed that the intelligence wing had been keeping a tab on news channels and that the government would ‘crush’ the elements in electronic media engaged in spreading false propaganda.

In the wake of these attacks, the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) has decided to hit back. It has objected to the kind of unwarranted criticism news channels are faced with.

A statement issued by the NBA said:

“News Broadcasters Association (NBA) objects to the unverified, unsubstantiated and highly defamatory charges being levelled against news channels by Mr Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and their members attributing corrupt motives and accusing the electronic media for not giving enough coverage or ignoring this or that party, without specific details to substantiate such charges. It is shocking to note that the very parties that gained immensely from media coverage are today turning against the electronic media, when they are under scrutiny on issues of governance.

NBA is equally shocked by the statement of the Home Minister of India that he would crush the electronic media and that a “close watch” was being kept on them.

NBA categorically states that a news channel’s endeavour is to cover news worthy events across all segments of national and international life and to present news to viewers, which is current and relevant. The media provides a service that is essential for any democratic society. This is particularly important when the most fundamental aspect of a democracy, the elections, are round the corner. At such a time, the media plays an indispensable role in enabling citizens to stay well informed and make important choices. There can be no acceptable reason for attacking the media on frivolous unsubstantiated grounds. Intimidation and preventing the media from performing its duties amounts to interfering with the freedoms enshrined in and guaranteed by the Constitution.

NBA appeals to political leaders from all parties and public figures not to level baseless charges against the media and keep the discourse civil and sane.”

February 25, 2014
ABP NEWS NIELSEN – KAUN BANEGA PRADHANMANTRI – Modi most preferred as PM

MUMBAI: NDA to bag 236 seats, BJP likely to get 217 seats in LS polls, AAP 10 and Cong 73 seats; Modi most preffered as PM: ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll

BJP likely to emerge as the single largest party with 217 seats and NDA to get 236 in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, predicts opinion poll conducted by ABP News-Nielsen. Congress to confine with 73 seats and Kejriwal’s AAP likely to get atound 10 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. NDA has gained 10 seats as compared to the opinion poll conducted in January, 2014. NDA predicted to get a vote share of 46 per cent from Western India and around 38 per cent vote share in northern India.

UPA 92

NDA 236

Left. 29

Others 186

Total 543

As per the ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll, Narendra Modi seems to be a clear choice as Prime Minister. Over 57 per cent respondents want Modi to be PM. Rahul Gandhi scores over Kejriwal with 18 per cent. Only 3 per cent respondents have voted for Arvind Kejriwal as prime minister.

Narendra Modi 57%

Rahul Gandhi 18%

Arvind Kejriwal 3%

As per the opinion poll, the so-called federal front is predicted to beat the UPA with around 186 seats.

AIADMK 19

AITC 29

BJD 16

BSP 13

CPM 18

CPI 7

DMK 13

JDU 9

According to the ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll, Inflation emerges as the issue which affects people the most in their day to day life with 46% respondents saying so. According to 34 per cent respondents corruption is the biggest problem and 18 per cent feel unemployment is a major problem.

Price rise./inflation 46%

Corruption.             34%

Unemployment.      18%

As per the opinion poll, BJP likely to get around 80 seats in north India. NDA to get around 88 seats of the 151-seat north India. AAP likely to get 9 seats and Congress 17 seats. UPA predicted to get 23 seats.

UPA. 23

NDA. 88

Left. 0

Others 40

Total 151

As per the ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll, NDA likely to get 88 seats in western India. BJP alone to get 79 seats. Congress likely to get 15 seats and AAP to get only one seat in the 116- seat western India.

UPA. 22

NDA. 88

Left. 0

Others 6

Total 116



According to the ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll, UPA to lead marginally over NDA with 26 seats in southern India. Congress to get 23, BJP likely to get 20 seats in South.

UPA. 26

NDA. 21

Left. 15

Others 72

Total 134

As per the ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll, NDA to lead with 39 seats, BJP likely to get 38 seats. Congress predicted to get around 18 seats in Eastern India.

UPA. 21

NDA. 39

Left. 14

Others 68

Total 142

The opinion poll was conducted by ABP News- Nielsen in 129 constituencies with 29,252 respondents during 4th February to 15th February 2014.

February 24, 2014
ABP NEWS NIELSEN- KAUN BANEGA PRADHANMANTRI- BJP to bag 40 seats in UP

MUMBAI: BJP to bag 40 seats in Uttar Pradesh; AAP predicted to get only one seat: ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll

BJP predicted to emerge as the largest party with 21 seats in Bihar; JDU to face the heat of break-up from BJP, likely to get 9 seats: ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll

BJP likely to have a major gain of 40 seats in Uttar Pradesh, predicts the opinion poll conducted by ABP News-Nielsen. As compared the poll conducted in Jauary, 2014, BJP shows a gain of another five with 40 seats and a vote share of 33 per cent. Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP likely to get only one seat in the house of 80-seat assembly. Congress predicted to get around 11 seats as compared to 21 seats in 2009 Lok Sabha polls. As per the poll, ruling Samajwadi Party likely to get around 14 and Mayawati’s BSP to get a close number of 13 seats in Uttar Pradesh.

As per the ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll, BJP likely to get 2 seats of all four seats in Bundelkhand. Congress likely to be wiped off and SP and BSP to get one seat each.

According to the ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll, BJP likely to lead in the 12-seat zone of Central Uttar Pradesh with 5 seats. Congress to get around 3 and BSP, SP to bag 2 seats each.

As per the ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll, BJP predicted to lead with 17 seats in Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Congress to get 4 seats, BSP 9 seats and SP 5 seats in the 36-seat zone of Eastern Uttar Pradesh. Maywati’s BSP has gained 2 seats as compared to 7 seats in the opinion poll conducted in January, 2014.

According to the ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll, BJP to lead in all 5 zones, predicted to get around 16 seats in Western Uttar Pradesh. BJP has gained 5 seats here, as compared to 11 seats in the opinion poll conducted in January, 2014. AAP to get its only seat from Western Uttar Pradesh. Ruling Samajwadi Party likely to get 6 seats.

As per the ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll, BJP predicted to emerge as the largest party with 21 seats in Bihar; JDU to face the heat of break-up from BJP, likely to get 9 seats.

BJP likely to emerge as the largest party in Bihar with 21 seats and a vote share of 32 per cent, predicts the opinion poll conducted by ABP News-Nielsen. Ruling JDU to face the heat after parting from ally BJP, to get 9 seats as compared to 20 seats in 2009 Lok Sabha polls. RJD likely to get around 5 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

According to the ABP News-Nielsen opinion poll, in a hypothetical scenario, Congress predicted to get 14 seats and a vote share of 32 per cent in alliance with RJD and LJP.

The opinion poll was conducted by ABP News-Nielsen in 20 parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh on 4th February, 2014 to 15th February, 2014 with 4537 respondents. In Bihar, the poll was conducted in 10 constituencies with 2272 respondents.

February 22, 2014
Split over Kejriwal’s resignation as CM

MUMBAI: There is a split in the opinion about the dramatic resignation rendered by Arvind Kejriwal as chief minister over Janlokpal, says the snap poll conducted by ABP News- IPSOS over his exit after a brief stint as Chief Minister. Around 49.1 per cent feel Kejriwal did the right thing by quitting from the post of CM over Janlokpal row, whereas a close 48.9 per cent respindents feel it was a wrong decision to bring down the AAP government in 49 days.

Right         49.1

Wrong       48.9

Can’t say       2

As per the ABP News- IPSOS snap poll, around 67 per cent respondents feel that Aam Aadmi Party deserves another chance and are likely to vote for them again if there are re-polls in Delhi right now. A meagre 6.5 per cen likely to vote for Congress, 23.1 per cent predicted to vote for BJP if assembly elections are held again in delhi.

BJP.          23.1

INC             6.5

AAP.         67.1

Others        1.4

Can’t say    1.9

According to the snap poll, majority of respondents 84.8 per cent feel that there should be re-polls in Delhi. Only 15.2 per cent feel assembly elections should not be held again in Delhi.

Yes     84.8

No      15.2

As per the ABP News- IPSOS snap poll, around 55.6 respondents are likely to vote for Kejriwal’s AAP party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as compared to over 67 per cent in Delhi. The appeal of AAP party seems to be confined to the Delhi polls. Around 34.1 per cent predicted to vote for BJP whereas only 6.7 per cent to support Congress in the Lok Sabha elections. As per the snap polls, Congress predicted to get dented by AAP in both assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

BJP            34.1

INC              6.7

AAP           55.6

Others         1.1

Can’t say     2.5

According to the snap poll, around 62 per cent respondents feel that Kejriwal’s AAP government fulfiled the promises made by them in their short 49-day stint in Delhi. Around 31.9 per cent feel that he could not give all that was promised by the AAP party.

Yes                62

No               31.9

Can’t say       6.1

The snap poll was conducted by ABP news and IPSOS in 10 assembly constituencies in Delhi with 1013 respondents on 15th February, 2014.

FOR MORE DETAILS PLEASE CONTACT- RANJAN BAKSHI- 9811423444

February 15, 2014
ABP news Nielson opinion poll- Kaun Banega Pradhanmantri

MUMBAI: BJP set to emerge as the single-largest party with the highest-ever score of 210 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls; Congress to hit the lowest-ever mark with 81 seats: ABP News-Nielsen National Opinion Poll.

BJP likely to emerge as the largest party with around 210 seats in General Elections in 2014, predicts the opinion poll conducted by ABP News-Nielsen across the nation. Congress likely to suffer a major setback with lowest-ever figure of 81 seats in the 543-seat House. Kejriwal’s AAP predicted to get around 11 seats.

According to the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, NDA predicted to form the government at the Centre with an overall 226 seats.

Narendra Modi most preferred PM, widens lead over Rahul Gandhi with 53%

As per the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, Narendra Modi seems to be the clear choice of people for the position of Prime Minister of India, with 53 per cent respondents voting for him. Rahul Gandhi is the choice of 15% respondents. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal gets a nod from 5 per cent.

47% respondents do not think that snoopgate allegations against Modi are true

As per the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, majority (47%) of respondents do not think that the allegations leveled against Narendra Modi regarding illegal surveillance of a young woman are true. 36 per cent respondents feel that the Central government’s decision to probe the snoopgate is not right.

61% do not want to give another chance to UPA government

According to the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, there is an anti-incumbent mood with majority (61%) saying that the UPA government should not get another chance. As per the opinion poll conducted across the nation, 43% respondents have rated UPA government performance as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’ with a mean score of 2.69.

According to the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, at an overall level, half (52%) of the respondents feel that previous NDA government was better than the present UPA government at the Centre. As per the national opinion poll, 38% respondents have rated PM Manmohan Singh’s performance as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’, and he has a mean score of 2.85.

BJP-led NDA will form the government at the Centre in 2014

As per the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, if elections were held now, at an overall level, half (52%) respondents feel that BJP-led NDA will form the government at the Centre in 2014.

Price control main reason for voting in 2014 LS polls

According to the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, BJP is more associated with an image of a party which can reduce Inflation.

AAP gets awareness but 49 per cent not to vote for the party

According to the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, little less than two-third (63%) of respondents at an overall level are aware of Aam Aadmi Party. In Delhi almost all (99%) are aware of AAP as expected. But at the same time, 49% respondents saying that they will not vote for AAP. Majority of the respondents feel that it is good to replicate Gujarat development model to other States

Only 10% welcome RTI, RTE, RTF as right s in UPA tenure

According to the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, only 10 per cent respondents welcomed the right to education, right to information, right to food has become rights, in UPA tenure. 33 per cent feel that these are political gimmicks to woo people.

According to the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, 58% of the respondents in Gujarat feel that it is good to replicate Gujarat development model to other States.

In Maharashtra, as per the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, 61% respondents feel that Raj Thackrey should get into an alliance with Shivsena and BJP.

In Uttar Pradesh, as per the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, Majority (51%) has rated overall performance of Akhilesh Yadav as ‘slightly poor’/’very poor’, and his mean score is 2.43 which is below average. 42% respondents feel that BJP has benefitted the most from the Muzzarfarnagar riots.

In Bihar, as per the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, according to 72 per cent respondents in Bihar feel that Nitish Kumar committed mistake by snapping ties with BJP.

In West Bengal, as per the ABP News-Nielsen national opinion poll, almost half (49%) of the respondents surveyed in the state feel that Narendra Modi’s image will help BJP to gain more votes in West Bengal in 2014 general elections.

The opinion poll was conducted by ABP News-Nielsen across the nation between 28th December, 2013 to 12th January, 2014 with 64,006 respondents. The confidence interval (margin of error) assumed for vote share prediction lies in the ranges of 5%.

January 27, 2014