SEBI Says No Market Manipulation or Insider Trading on Exit Polls Day: Sources

New Delhi: Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Friday found that there was no market manipulation or insider trading on exit polls day, according to sources. 

TMC writes to SEBI 

Earlier, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) had written to the Securities and Exchange Board of India, alleging "stock market manipulation" through "misleading exit polls", and sought an appointment with SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch to discuss the issue. 

Several other INDIA bloc parties, including the Congress, have alleged a stock market "scam", questioning its steep rise following the exit poll results, and the crash after the official results came.

Exit polls broadcast on June 1 predicted a massive win for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). But when the votes were counted on June 4, the BJP got 240 seats, falling short of the majority mark of 272, even though the NDA got enough numbers to retain power.

Opposition parties have also demanded a joint parliamentary committee probe, and the issue is likely to cause an uproar in the upcoming parliament session.

In a letter signed by TMC's parliamentary party leader in Rajya Sabha Derek O'Brien, the party said several mysterious circumstances surround the "stock market volatility" of June 3-4. The exit poll results were broadcast on June 1 after the last phase of Lok Sabha polls.

"It is important to know whether any of these agencies had manipulated their predictions to influence the markets," the letter reads.

The TMC said that in the run-up to the 7th and last phase of polling on June 1, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah made statements in their TV interviews where they specifically asked people to "purchase stocks before 4th June" and also said that "the markets will shoot up on 4th June".

"These statements combined with the market spike on 3rd June based on misleading exit poll results made people falsely believe that 4th June would see markets rise further as claimed by PM Modi and Amit Shah," the TMC said.