The Election Commission has directed the District Election Officers of all districts that went to polls in the first phase of Uttar Pradesh elections on February 11 to immediately file First Information Reports against consulting agency Resource Development International and Hindi daily Dainik Jagran for violating election procedures by publishing “exit polls” in violation of its directions.

The FIRs are being filed for violating the notification of the Commission issued on January 27 which said that “conducting any exit poll and publishing or publicising by means of print or electronic media or disseminating results in any other manner would be prohibited during the current elections, specifying the period between 7 am on February 4 and 5.30 pm on March 8.”

“Now it has been brought to the notice of the Commission that the Dainik Jagran has published results of the exit polls conducted by a company by the name of Resource Development International on the first phase of elections in UP, through their website,” the Commission said in a statement.

The statement adds that the Commission has decided to take “stringent action against the perpetrators.” The offence is punishable with imprisonment for a term of up to 2 years or with a fine or both.

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