Sept. 6 :    Sept. 6:  The Madras High Court today stayed an Election Commission notification forbidding publication and dissemination of opinion poll results and advertisements by political parties through the electronic media. The notification had been issued by the poll panel on August 20. While the print media had been allowed to carry ads from political parties exhorting voters to vote for their nominees, the electronic media had been debarred from screening party-sponsored commercials. The poll panel had also ruled in the same notification that no opinion poll results could be published once polling process began on September 5. Exit poll results could not also be disclosed before counting is taken up on October 5. The stay was granted by Justice K. Govindarajan, who said the Andhra Pradesh High Court had also issued a stay on a similar petition. The judge issued a notice to the poll panel, the Tamil Nadu chief electoral officer and the home secretary of the state. The petition had been filed by Sun TV, a unit of Sumangali publications. The petitioners had contended that they were unfairly losing revenue due to the the poll panel?s order. The lawyers, who appeared on behalf of the private channel, said the Election Commission was going beyond its jurisdiction in issuing such a prohibitory order. They said the poll panel?s job was to supervise the polls and it was not authorised to pass any order that would violate the fundamental rights. The lawyers also pleaded that the notification was against freedom of speech as enshrined in the Constitution. They said such powers usurped by the commission was not guaranteed to it under Articles 324, 325 and 326 of the Constitution and under any provision of the Representation of the People?s Act. In New Delhi, election commissioner G.V.G. Krishnamurthi said the poll panel would have to look into the judgment before reaching any decision. But it was more than apparent that the commission will fight for what it feels was a justified decision. The case may finally be decided in the Supreme Court. Krishnamurthi, however, argued that even in the West, opinion polls are discontinued 48 hours before polling takes place. The Election Commission feels there was nothing new in its decision. A similar decision had been taken during the last elections to ensure free and fair polls. The poll panel had earlier said that such a measure would reduce the impact of propaganda because the electronic media is very powerful and often does not allow the average voter to exercise his rational faculties while making his choice. That is why the poll panel had discriminated against ads carried on the electronic media. But even in 1998, several television channels in south India had been irked by the poll panel?s decision to ban ads. They had openly campaigned against the order and said they would lose substantial revenue. It appears that these channels are not really bothered by the order on opinion poll results. Their main difference with the poll panel is over the screening of lucrative party-sponsored ads. The Madras High Court decision should please the National Democratic Alliance, because the BJP has been bringing out the most number of ads and special supplements in newspapers on achievements of the Vajpayee government. Party sources agreed that had television commercials been allowed they would have tried to exploit it to the hilt. The Congress has been way behind with regard to putting out ads.