The Congress Wednesday urged the Election Commission to ban opinion polls till the conclusion of the Lok Sabha elections.

In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath, secretary of the party’s legal and human rights department K.C. Mittal demanded registration of a case into the alleged manipulation of opinion polls.

He urged the poll panel to issue instructions to ban opinion polls “until the expiry of 48 hours from the close of the polling for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections”.

“The manner in which the opinion polls are being manipulated has been caught on the hidden camera which shows that for money, the opinion poll results are tweaked at the instance of political parties, so much so that it can be used even to create a wave for the benefit of and against a political party or individual or even create where it is nonexistent,” Mittal said in the letter.

A news channel claimed that a sting operation showed that some of the agencies which conduct opinion polls were willing to tweak the findings.

“Since the Lok Sabha elections are due to be held in the near future and the manner in which the opinion polls are managed and manipulated and are capable of being managed and manipulated by vested interests, it is a serious threat and danger to the conduct of fair poll by the commission, a duty and responsibility cast under Article 324 of Constitution of India,” the letter added.