Karnataka election 2018: Congress will vanish, says confident BJP: Updates

Karnataka Assembly Elections will be held on May 12 and the result will be declared on May 15, 2018, the Election Commission (EC) announced on Tuesday. Karnataka elections will be held in a single phase. Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat said that the model code of conduct has come into effect in the poll-bound state The elections are being held to choose the 224 members of the Karnataka Assembly whose tenure ends in May 2018. The polls are being seen politically crucial for the ruling Congress, as well as the BJP, as Karnataka is the only big state where the former is in power after losing a string of Assembly elections to the saffron party in the past few years. The BJP is making a concerted bid to unseat the Congress. Besides, the Congress and the BJP, another player in the fray is former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's JD(S). Currently, the Congress party holds a simple majority of 123 seats in the 224 constituencies’ strong Karnataka legislative assembly. The BJP holds 44 and the JD(s) has 40 seats respectively. BJP President Amit Shah on Monday asserted there was a "tsunami" in favour of his party, which will not only defeat the ruling Congress but also 'uproot' it in the coming assembly polls in Karnataka. "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" Shah said. Coming to Karnataka a day after Congress president Rahul Gandhi ended his fourth round of visit, he said "Rahul Gandhi is touring. He has been saying that Congress government will come in Karnataka." "Since 2014 see the election records," he added citing BJP's winning streak since coming to power at the centre. Karnataka Assembly election significance The Karnataka Assembly elections 2018 are important for the Congress party, currently in power in the state, as this is the last big state where it is still in power after losing a string of Assembly elections to the BJP in the past few years. It is also important for the BJP, which will be trying to unseat the Congress and push its call for 'Congress-mukt Bharat'. Important dates for Karnataka Assembly Election 2018 17 April: Issue of notification 24 April: Last date of nomination 25 April: Date of scrutiny 27 April: Last date of withdrawal of candidates 12 May: Date of Polling 15 May: Counting of votes/ Result day * Date of notification is April 17 and nominations should be filed by April 24. The last date of withdrawal of candidature is April 27. Counting of votes will take place on May 15. What you must know about Karnataka Assembly Elections 2018 1) 'Congress will disappear from Karnataka': Union minister Prakash Javadekar, the BJP's in-charge for Karnataka polls, today claimed the Congress will "disappear" from the state like it has from other parts of the country and accused the Siddaramaiah government of being "anti-farmer and anti-poor". On a day the Election Commission announced May 12 as the polling date in the state, Javadekar claimed that the people there are eager to throw out the Congress government due to its "divide and rule policy". "The BJP is confident of a victory. Their game is divide and rule. They are anti-poor and anti-farmers. People don't appreciate such policies. The Congress will disappear from the state as it has from other parts of the country" he told reporters. He also claimed that the state government had wanted to take over properties of mutts in the state which, he said, was a display of its "anti-Hindu" character. Javadekar also took a dig at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi over his visits to shrines and holy places, saying people understand who is a real devotee and "whose rounds of temples are driven by-elections". He said farm distress, lawlessness and lack of development in the state were the main poll issues. 2) Amit Shah's blooper, calls BS Yeddyurappa corrupt Amit Shah, while speaking to reporters, mistakenly called B S Yeddyurappa corrupt, while he perhaps meant Siddaramaiah. "I am not saying this, a retired Supreme Court judge has said this that Yeddyurappa government is the most corrupt government," Shah accidentally said before someone promptly corrected him and he amended his statement. ALSO READ: Siddaramaiah thanks Amit Shah for trolling Yeddyurappa; here's what he said However, the damage was already done it seems as the Congress party was quick to latch on to the blooper as they termed the mistake Amit Shah's moment of truth. 3) Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi at EC office: BJP today told EC that its IT cell chief Amit Malviya's tweet on the Karnataka Assembly election dates before the poll panel's announcement was based on a news channel's report and a state Congress office-bearer had also tweeted about it.

A party delegation led by Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi visited the commission after Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat termed the leak as "very serious" and promised "stringent action".

Naqvi later told reporters that Malviya should not have tweeted. He said that Malviya's tweet was based on a news channel report and he had no intention to undermine the EC's authority.

In a letter to the EC, Malviya said an English news channel had reported the poll date at 11.06 AM and he tweeted about it at 11.08 AM. He also stated that a Karnataka Congress functionary also tweeted about the poll dates exactly at the same time.

He also submitted screenshots of the news channel report, his tweet and the Congress leader's tweet and their timings to make his case.

Amit Malviya's tweet was based on a TV channel's source. It had no intention to undermine the stature of EC. A Karnataka Congress leader had also tweeted the same thing. We agree that he (Malviya) shouldn't have tweeted it: Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP after meeting with EC officials pic.twitter.com/McqxhsUZCT

— ANI (@ANI) March 27, 2018