News Broadcasting
Exit Polls, Opinion Polls banned on eve of first phase of LS and assembly elections
NEW DELHI: With the first phase of Lok Sabha polling on 7 April, the Election Commission has banned the publication and dissemination of exit polls of any kind from that day to 12 May when the last phase of polling ends.
The Commission said the ban or “restriction” on exit polls will also be applicable for elections to Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh assemblies which are being held along with Lok Sabha polls.
The exit polls will be banned from 7 am on 7 April when polling in the first phase starts till 6.30 PM on 12 May when the polling in the ninth and last phase ends.
Using its powers under the Representation of the People Act, an EC notification said, “Conducting any exit poll and publishing or publicising by means of the print or electronic media or dissemination in any manner, whatsoever, the result of any exit poll….shall be prohibited.”
The Commission has also banned the publication of results of any opinion polls, 48 hours before polling in respective areas under the existing law.
The poll panel had proposed that there should be a prohibition on publication and broadcast of the results of opinion polls starting from the date of notification of elections till the completion of the last phase of polls to Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
News Broadcasting
News TV viewership jumps 33 per cent as West Asia war draws audiences
BARC Week 8 data shows news share rising to 8 per cent despite T20 World Cup
NEW DELHI:Â Even as individual television news channel ratings remain under a temporary pause, the genre itself is seeing a clear surge in audience attention.
According to the latest data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India, television news recorded a 33 per cent jump in genre share in Week 8 of 2026, covering February 28 to March 6.
The news genre accounted for 8 per cent of total television viewership during the week, up from 6 per cent the previous week. The spike in attention coincided with escalating geopolitical tensions involving the United States, Israel and Iran, which have kept global headlines firmly fixed on West Asia.
The rise is notable because it came at a time when cricket was dominating television screens. The high-stakes stages of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, including the Super 8 fixtures and semi-finals, were being broadcast during the same period.
Despite the cricket frenzy, viewers appeared to be toggling between sport and global affairs, boosting the overall share of news programming.
The surge in genre share comes even as the government has enforced a one-month pause on publishing ratings for individual news channels. The move followed regulatory scrutiny of the television ratings ecosystem.
While channel-level rankings remain temporarily out of sight, the genre-level data suggests that when global tensions escalate, audiences continue to turn to television news for real-time updates.
