Wed Nov 20 11:17:22 UTC 2024: ## Jharkhand Election: Media Silence Follows Failed Polls
**Ranchi, Jharkhand:** The first phase of voting for the Jharkhand Assembly elections has concluded with an unusual silence dominating social media, YouTube channels, and mainstream media. While media outlets aired opinion polls, they garnered little attention or credibility. No party is confidently claiming victory based on pre-election surveys, reflecting a lack of faith even within the media itself regarding the accuracy of their own predictions.
This subdued reaction follows a string of inaccurate predictions by various media groups, survey agencies, and social media analysts. The Lok Sabha elections, and subsequently the Haryana Assembly elections, dramatically exposed the flaws in their forecasting. These groups, including previously prominent opinion and exit pollsters, failed to accurately predict the outcomes in both instances.
The Lok Sabha elections saw widespread predictions of a BJP landslide victory, with some even anticipating the fulfillment of Prime Minister Modi’s “Abki Baar, Chaar Sau Paar” slogan. However, Naya India’s pre-election prediction of 235 seats for the BJP proved significantly closer to the actual result (BJP secured approximately 240 seats) than other predictions.
The subsequent Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir elections saw similar failures, with widespread predictions of a Congress victory being overturned by BJP wins. The aftermath has resulted in criticism of both the Congress party and speculation regarding the integrity of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).
This widespread inaccuracy has led to a palpable lack of confidence in pre-election polling and analysis, resulting in the current muted response to the Jharkhand election results.
First Piper 