Were exit polls rigged to manipulate stock market? MP seeks Sebi investigation

He said an intentionally skewed exit poll would clearly mean that there was massive done on 3rd June and also merits investigation to see which entities or investors made massive gains on 3rd June on the back of exit polls and whether they have any links with the BJP or Axis MyIndia.



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On Friday, an average of all exit polls predicted that NDA will win about 367 seats following which the and Nifty saw massive gains above 3% on Monday. However, as the seat calculations done by exit polls were off the mark with NDA ending up winning only 293 seats, the market crashed by 6% on Tuesday.

The MP said Monday's spike and Tuesday's crash was unnatural and an indication of how inflated and off-the-mark the exit polls were.

"The exit polls were clearly manipulated to rally the stock market. Lakhs of crores of investors' money was later wiped off after the markets crashed. There must be an investigation to determine if pollsters like intentionally inflated the exit polls for the BJP. This is important because Axis MyIndia also had BJP as a client," Gokhale said.

In his letter to chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch, he has also asked the regulator to investigate if there are entities that booked profits through selling on 3rd June and made even more profits on 4th June by short selling.

Since Tuesday's shocker, the market has been on a recovery path as PM Modi is set to take oath for the third time on June 8 with the help of allies like TDP and JD(U). After ending over 3% higher on Wednesday to recover half of Tuesday's loss, Nifty was trading nearly 1% up today.

Most brokerages have maintained their bullish stance on Indian equities even after the election setback but fear that pre-welfare measures may push back the growth agenda led by capex and reforms.

"It is usual for the markets to get euphoric and peak in the run-up to the elections. So, unless there is an extraordinary situation, markets are always soft post the results. We have seen this since the 2004 elections. A similar trend is observed in the run up to the first union budget of a new Government. It is an important policy announcement which sets the economic tone for the next five years, and again the expectations from it are often so high that it is usually followed by disappointment. However, as a rule, over a period the market goes back to basics and starts acting and reacting to the economic fundamentals," says Dalal Street veteran Sunil Sanghai of NovaaOne.

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