Trinamul MP Asks Sebi to Probe Exit Polls Linked Market Manipulation

New Delhi: Trinamul Congress member of Parliament Saket Gokhale has written to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) demanding an investigation into stock market manipulation through exit polls, specifically India Today-Axis MyIndia, which allegedly "massively inflated" the seat numbers for the BJP-led NDA.

“In Bengal, they predicted 26-31 seats for the BJP which actually got just 12 seats. That's an exaggeration of a whopping 116-158 per cent. This is way beyond any standard margin of error. On the back of exit polls, stock markets spiked massively on Monday. And after the results yesterday, the markets crashed to an unprecedented level. I have asked Sebi to investigate if there are entities that booked profits through selling on June 3 and made even more profits on June 4 by short selling. Have also asked to investigate whether any of these entities have direct or indirect links with the BJP or with pollsters like Axis MyIndia,” said Mr Gokhale in a post on X.

“The exit polls were clearly manipulated to rally the stock market. Lakhs of crores of investors' money were later wiped off on June 4 after the markets crashed. There must be an investigation to determine if pollsters like Axis MyIndia intentionally inflated the exit polls for the BJP. This is important because Axis MyIndia also had the BJP as a client. The investigation must also determine whether the BJP and any poll agencies have made crores by manipulating the stock markets through exit polls,” he added.

In his letter to Sebi chief Madhabai Puri Buch, Mr Gokhale said serious questions pertain to intentional stock market manipulation through engineered election exit polls, which merits a thorough investigation.

He further said that given the fact that Axis My India was also hired by the BJP to do its political surveys, it was a conflict of interest on the part of the agency to be working for the BJP while also participating in exit polls without a clear and unequivocal disclosure of a glaring conflict of interest.

“Investors made massive profits on June 3 after the markets rose on the back of exit poll results. However, on June 4, investors suffered losses of over `31-lakh crores… In the interest of protecting investors, it is important to determine if the India Today-Axis MyIndia polls were rigged or intentionally skewed in favour of the BJP-led NDA, which led to the unprecedented rally in the markets on June 3. An intentionally skewed exit poll will clearly mean there was massive stock market manipulation done… It merits investigation to see which are the entities or investors that made massive gains on June 3 on the back of exit polls and whether they have links with the BJP, India Today and Axis MyIndia,” the letter said.