Why Almost All Channels Chose To Exit Mizoram This Polls

By Nandagopal Rajan

On why no channel bothered to cover Mizoram, CVoter managing director Yashwant Deshmukh said: "No media channel commissions poll surveys for the north east. (PTI)

New Delhi, Dec 6 : If you saw television channels after the voting ended in Delhi on Wednesday, you would have thought just four states that went to the polls over the past month or so. Actually, there were five. The last one, forgotten in the focus on the larger, more newsy states, was Mizoram.

In fact, of the many exit polls conducted by research agencies for television channels, only one had figures for this north-eastern state. In a poll done for India TV, CVoter predicted a hung Assembly in the state with Congress being reduced to just 19 seats in the 40-member House. This is down 13 seats from its 2008 tally.

On why no channel bothered to cover Mizoram, CVoter managing director Yashwant Deshmukh said: "No media channel commissions poll surveys for the north east. We did the Mizoram poll with our own money as we feel it irresponsible to ignore one state. We have been conducting polls in the region for a couple of years now." Deshmukh said they had 80 researchers on the ground, covering 3311 respondents in all the 40 segments.

With just one Lok Sabha constituency in the state, it seems media houses as well as political pundits think the state is insignificant to be counted.

In their favour is the fact that most of them ignore the entire north east and not just a state in the region.