Agence France Presse

New Delhi, April 6:

Indian parties joined ranks today to demand a blanket ban on opinion surveys and exit polls ahead of national elections as they had the potential to sway the vote, officials said.

The request was made as political leaders from six national and 45 regional parties met with India’s autonomous Election Commission for talks on election practices for the national polls that begin April 20 and end May 10. "There was a unanimous demand by all political parties for a ban on opinion polls from the first day of election notification," said Kapil Sibal, spokesman for the main opposition Congress party.

"These are not opinion polls but opinion-making polls," Sibal said. Both exit and opinion polls have proved to be widely inaccurate in three parliamentary elections conducted in India since 1996. Commission officials said the poll watchdog was "strongly" in favour of a ban.

At least nine opinion polls conducted by television stations and newspapers since March 27 have put India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the Congress. Today’s meeting also focused on whether the BJP’s use of advertisements attacking the Italian origins of Congress president Sonia Gandhi was in breach of new election laws banning campaigns deemed "slanderous". The BJP said it was also upset over a commercial that accused Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee of collaborating with the British during the colonial rule.