Poll Methodology

This page explains exactly how our unofficial fan polls work and what their numbers do and do not mean.

How votes are recorded

When you submit a vote, our server checks the poll is open, checks that your chosen contestant is nominated, and saves the vote with the server’s own timestamp. Nothing is counted from your browser alone, and results are never generated or estimated.

The 60-second cooldown

A vote is accepted from the same browser or connection at most once every 60 seconds. The server enforces it with several independent signals: a browser identifier cookie, your network address combined with browser details, and your account if login is required. A countdown on screen is only a courtesy. This limits rapid repeat voting but it does not identify one unique person: someone can still vote again by waiting, or by using another device or connection.

How totals and percentages are calculated

Total valid votes is the number of saved votes for the poll that have not been excluded. A contestant’s percentage is their valid votes divided by the total, rounded to one decimal place. Rankings follow vote counts, and contestants with equal counts share a rank.

Opening and closing

Each poll has an opening and closing time in Indian Standard Time (Asia/Kolkata). We normally open on Tuesday and close on Friday night, but each week’s exact times are shown on the poll. The server decides whether a poll is open; a vote arriving outside the window is rejected.

Suspicious or invalid activity

We monitor for unusual patterns such as very large numbers of votes from one connection, automated behaviour and failed checks. We may block such traffic and exclude affected votes. We do not publish the exact thresholds, and no method is impossible to get around.

How results are finalised

While a poll is live, results are provisional and change as votes arrive. Shortly after the poll closes we save a final snapshot. If votes are later excluded after review, we recompute and update that snapshot, and we note the change here or on the poll page.

What the results mean

Our visitors are a self-selected group, so the poll does not represent the whole audience of the show. Fan campaigns can swing it. It cannot establish or predict the official elimination, and it must not be presented as official voting.

See also: Disclaimer and prediction methodology.