Elections results are unpredictable. But one thing about elections isn’t — the News18 Network’s speed and accuracy, whether it be in TV or digital platforms.
On December 11, when votes were being counted to choose the new legislative assemblies in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram, News18 yet again asserted itself as India’s fastest and most reliable election destination.
With unparalleled accuracy, it was only News18 reflecting the real picture until late in the night as the see-saw battle between the BJP and Congress continued in Madhya Pradesh. News18’s numbers throughout reflected the true picture of what was happening on the ground in counting centres, unlike those of other news outlets that relied on third-party vendors.
At the centre of this unique capability is News18 group’s network of reporters and stringers in every counting centre and so elaborate is this operation that the counting status at any point in time is reflected faster than any officialsource.
From the first leads that come in soon after 8 AM to the announcement of the final results, News18 ‘s representatives stationed in each and every counting centre across the states send in updates after every round of counting on a real-time basis to a central hub in Hyderabad. Here, a team of 45 people validate the results and enter it into a system which in turn sends out live feeds to 16 television news channels and websites across 15 different languages.
All this took months of intense planning and preparation, and the results of all these efforts were again on full display on December 11 when most TV channels displayed delayed and inflated figures, only to bring them closer to News18’s numbers later in the day. News18 stayed its usual course till the final results came in. Every lead change and every win or loss was captured and displayed across the network in a matter of seconds.
Once again, December 11 proved the adage: Elections = News18.