Election Commission (EC) on March 27 has announced the complete schedule for Karnataka Assembly polls 2018. The elections will be held on May 12 in a single phase and the results will be announced on May 15.
The EC has also announced April 24 as the last date to file the nominations and April 27 as the last date for withdrawal of candidature.
Karnataka is currently ruled by Congress Party and it holds majority of 123 seats in the 224 constituencies. The current term will end on May 28. In Karnataka the BJP holds 44 seats and the Janata Dal(secular) has 40 seats respectively.
BJP President Amit Shah on March 26 has said that there was a “tsunami” in favor of his party which will likely to defeat the ruling Congress in the upcoming assembly polls.
“After Gujarat elections, this is my Karnataka trip. Extraordinary enthusiasm is witnessed here. Earlier I was saying it was a BJP wave. Now I say it’s a BJP tsunami” said Shah.
Karnataka has a very uneven voting pattern. There are in total six regions, which comprise of 30 districts. The state is divided into the Bangalore region, the coastal region, Old Mysore region, Hyderabad-Karnataka region, Mumbai-Karnataka region and Central Karnataka.
The Tweet
The BJP IT Cell tweeted partially wrong information several minutes before the CEC announced the schedule. The EC said it will investigate the alleged leak of information about the schedule tweeted by BJP IT Cell.
“Strongest possible action will be taken if there is any leak,” says Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat.
“EC Social Media hub will look into the allegations of harnessing of user information through mobile applications of political parties and political personalities,” he added.
The Congress also raised the question on how the BJP’s IT Cell Chief Amit Malviya got hold of details of the election dates.
BJP becomes the ‘Super Election Commission’ as they announce poll dates for Karnataka even before the EC.
Credibility of EC is on test.
Will EC now issue notice to BJP President, Amit Shah & register an FIR against BJP IT Head for leaking EC’s confidential information? pic.twitter.com/i3vU2iJpjH
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) March 27, 2018
