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| Many TV channels corrected their numbers mid way |
November 8, 2015, NewsCrunch
National TV channels struggled to provide accurate results as the counting of votes progressed in Bihar on Sunday.
Even after two hours of counting, different TV channels projected different figures with most saying BJP+ was ahead. At a point, Times Now was all set to declare BJP+ as the winner.
Some of them corrected their numbers mid way. NDTV took a long break at about 10 am and when they came back they had made significant changes to their results table – JDU+ had replaced BJP+ in the leads.
TV channels gather poll results through private investigators, who are stationed at the counting centres. They note down numbers announced by their returning officers, which are presented on TV.
The investigators work for polling companies, which aggregate and sell data to TV channels. And it is at this point, the messing up seems to have occurred.
Interestingly, local TV channels in Bihar seems to have got the results right. They used their own reporters and stringers to gather, aggregate and analyse data, which seems to have worked better.
Here is how Twitter coped with the confusion on Bihar results.
If these TV Channels are believed there might be some parallel governments in Bihar #BiharElections#BiharResults— Siddhu Manchikanti (@SidManchikanti) November 8, 2015#biharresults#Bihar switching off the TV channels and waiting for the election commission results after couple of hours.— Hemanth (@kumi1says) November 8, 2015Indian Media, there is only one Bihar in India and that was the one which had elections! #BiharResults— Karthik Sastry R (@rk_sastry) November 8, 2015What is happening in news rooms.. 1st time all channels showing results if it's #ExitPoll day today Bhai aaj toh results hain #BiharResults— Ravi Kant Mittal (@ravikantmittal) November 8, 2015Whoa...what a comeback by JD(U)+...This looks like a major political thriller #BiharResults— P Sangeetha (@_psangeetha) November 8, 2015— Bhavesh Patel (@PatelBhavesh92) November 8, 2015Sab apni apni kheechadi paka rahein hain #BiharResultshttps://t.co/gflBy2a7G3— R Jain (@des2videsh) November 8, 2015Early trend and bhakts reaction #BiharResultspic.twitter.com/1rV42gWKoh— Rishi (@Rishi_Muni) November 8, 2015News channels & Twitter as #BiharResults pouring in 😉 Excited for #BiharVerdict#BiharKiDiwali@guru9899@BBCHindipic.twitter.com/4nsNGfpDiT— Shikha Chaudhary (@Shikha____) November 8, 2015Its 10 am but yet to Know who will form the Govt in Bihar! #BiharResults— SIVARAMAN (@SIVARAMANJ) November 8, 2015Going by conflicting TV channel figures, there might be two CMs! #BiharResultshttps://t.co/eCc4TesGRD— Amrut Thobbi (@amrutti) November 8, 2015