Firm says it has been wrongly accused, did not carry out exit

The company, against which the EC ordered lodging of an FIR for carrying out an exit poll in Uttar Pradesh despite a ban, today claimed it has been wrongly accused, causing it "unnecessary loss of face".
When contacted, the Election Commission refused to come on record and a senior official, who declined to be named, said the election body went by a media report and "it is up to the police to investigate".
A day after the EC ordered lodging of FIRs against a Hindi daily and the agency, Resource Development International India Pvt Ltd in connection with publication of "exit polls" in violation of its directions, the company's Managing Director Rajeev Gupta said his firm has nothing to do with exit polls.

Gupta said his organisation is a management consulting company engaged in strategic consulting and is in no way involved in poll-related activities like exit poll.
"It seems that there is some other RDI with which the name of Resource Development International India Pvt Ltd has been mixed up which is resulting in unnecessary loss of face and irreparable damage to the corporate image of Resource Development International India Pvt Ltd," he said in a statement.
Refusing to go on record, an EC official said the order to lodge FIR against the organisation was issued after the online edition of Hindi daily Dainik Jagran quoted "Resource Development International (RDI)" exit poll. He said it was now up to the police to investigate the matter.

The company claimed that the commission has "wrongly initiated" legal action against its management based on the media report without verifying the source.