'Political Interest Litigation' : Supreme Court Rejects PIL For CBI Probe Against TV Channels For Alleged Manipulation Of Exit Polls

The Supreme Court today (September 6) dismissed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking probe against several media houses for broadcasting exit polls and allegedly misleading the stock market investors. 

The bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra refused to entertain the PIL terming it to be a 'Political Interest Litigation'. 

The CJI expressed  "The government is now already elected, let's now close of saga of what happens during elections and get on with the governance in the country. The Election Commission will handle it and we will not run the ECI. This is a clear case of Political Interest Litigation" 

It was the case of the petitioner that due to the broadcasting of exit polls on TV channels by several media outlets right at the conclusion of the last phase of the General Elections,  stock market investments saw a sharp rise and immediate crash on June 4 when the final results were declared. This led to an apparent loss of Rs 31 lakh crores to the public's investments. 

The plea sought for an investigation by CBI, ED, CBDT, SEBI and SFIO against the conduct of such media houses in violation of the Representation of People Act, 1951 and Election Commission Guidelines. It also argued that such an alleged manipulation of exit polls hinders the principles of free and fair elections and rule of law.  

Case Details : B.L. JAIN Versus UNION OF INDIA AND ORS. Diary No. 26323-2024

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