Exit Polls 2026: What do Election Commission guidelines say for West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and other elections

Exit Polls 2026: Assembly elections across Kerala, Assam, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are in their final stretch. Polling has concluded in Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, while West Bengal awaits its last phase of voting on 29 April.

With the final phase of the West Bengal elections on Wednesday, the current election cycle will end. And as polling ends on Wednesday, pollsters will start releasing exit poll results for all four states and one Union Territory.

When will exit polls be released?

The Election Commission of India's ban on exit polls will remain in effect until the last vote is cast on Wednesday. This means that the first exit poll results will be released after 6.30 PM on Wednesday.

“The Election Commission under Section 126A of the RP Act 1951, has notified that the conduct of exit poll and dissemination of their results by means of print or electronic media is prohibited between 7:00 AM on 9 April 2026 (Thursday) and 6.30 PM on 29 April 2026 (Wednesday),” the poll panel said in its notification on 2 April.

The Commission reiterated that the TV/Radio channels and cable networks should ensure that the contents of the programme telecast/broadcast/displayed by them between 7:00 AM on 9 April 2026 (Thursday) and 6.30 PM on 29 April 2026 (Wednesday) do not contain any material, including views/appeals by panellists/participants that may be construed as promoting/prejudicing the prospect of any particular party or candidate(s) or influencing/affecting the result of the election.

This includes the display of any opinion poll, the poll panel said.

“Violation of Section 126A of the RP Act, 1951 is punishable with imprisonment up to a period of two years, or with fine or both,” read the notification.

What are exit polls?

Exit polls are predictions made by different pollsters shortly after voting ends on poll day.

The predictions are based on voter feedback collected by survey agencies after the polling. While the idea behind exit polls is to accurately reflect public sentiment before the official results are announced, their accuracy has come under scrutiny in the past.

What exit polls predicted for Bengal in 2021?

In 2021, for example, exit polls predicted a close fight between the TMC and the BJP in West Bengal. The poll of polls predicted that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress party would win 156 of the state's 292 seats that went to polls and that the BJP would score a strong 121 seats.

But eventually, the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC won the election with a landslide, winning 215 seats out of the 292 polled. The BJP won 77 seats, emerging as the principal opposition party in the West Bengal assembly for the first time.