Exit polls manipulated stock mkt: AITC demands SEBI probe
The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) has sought an appointment with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chair Madhabi Puri Buch to deliberate about alleged “stock market manipulation” through inaccurate exit poll results which were aired on Indian television news networks on the evening of June 1, 2024 after the last phase of voting had ended.
It has been learnt that the delegation of parliamentarians will comprise AITC Lok Sabha MPs Kalyan Banerjee and Pratima Mondal and Rajya Sabha MPS Sagarika Ghose and Saket Gokhale, and a member each from the Maha Vikas Aghadi partners Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Nationalist Congress Party (Sarad Chandra Pawar).
The multi-party delegation lead by Mamata Banerjee’s party leaders will visit the SEBI office in Mumbai on Tuesday, June 18 at 11.30 am.
It has been mere days since Narendra Modi took over as the prime minister of the nation for the third consecutive time, and yet his administration has been rocked by allegations of corruption (NEET paper leak, stock market manipulation, Election Commission counting more votes than polled and EVM hacking) and inaction (on terror attacks in Reasi and Kathua) within that much time.
A letter signed by Derek O’Brien, the AITC’s parliamentary party leader in the Rajya Sabha, says that there are many mysterious circumstances surrounding the “stock market volatility” of June 3 and 4 and that it is essential to be brought to knowledge whether any of the exit poll agencies had presented manufactured assumptions to manipulate the markets.
Narendra Modi and Amit Shah’s statements in the run-up to the elections have also been attached where they had time and again asked investors to “buy” before June 4, claiming that the markets will shoot up on that day.
Special emphasis has been laid on India Today’s Axis-My India projections, because that is the most watched exit poll of the nation and arguably had the most damaging effect on the market.
The most astonishing allegation levelled by Bengal’s ruling party is that individuals affiliated with BJP leaders, like their spouses and relatives, have raked in humongous returns from the market after June 4, opening the ground for investigation into insider trading as well.
