K’taka poll date amid tweet row

| | New Delhi
K’taka poll date amid tweet row

Assembly elections to be held on May 12 and results to be declared on May 15

The Election Commission on Tuesday announced that Karnataka Assembly polls will be held on May 12 and the results will be declared on May 15, 2018. The announcement followed a major controversy when journalists pointed to the CEC that BJP’s  Information and Technology cell head Amit Malviya  had already tweeted the poll date.

Interestingly, the dates were also announced through an unverified handle, purported to be that of Karnataka Congress’ social media in-charge Srivatsa YB. Announcing the date for 224-member Karnataka Assembly polls, Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat said the elections will be held in a single phase and the model code of conduct has come into effect in the poll-bound State. The last State elections were held in the first week of May in 2013.  The tenure of the current Assembly ends on May 28.

As per the EC, the date for notification will be April 17 and April 24 is the last date of filing nomination. The date of scrutiny for nomination will be April 25. The last date for withdrawal of nomination will be April 27.

“EVMs & VVPATs shall be used in all the polling stations of Karnataka to enhance the transparency and credibility of the election. Photographs of the candidates will also be available on the ballots in the EVM,” the Chief Election Commissioner said.

During the Press conference, the EC was apprised of a tweet posted by BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya, giving out the poll date.  Malviya wrote on Twitter, “Karnataka will vote on 12 May 2018, counting on 18 May 2018.”  Though he deleted the tweet, he got the poll date right but the date of counting wrong.

“The matter will definitely be investigated and strict action will be taken if there is any leak,” said Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat when journalists questioned him over Malaviya’s tweet.

Taking a swipe at the BJP, Congress president Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “Now that the BJP IT cell has announced Karnataka elections, time for a sneak preview of our top-secret campaign video! Gifted to us by the BJP president, our campaign in Karnataka is off to a fabulous start. He says Yeddyurappa ran the most corrupt Govt ever... True.”

Soon after the tweet controversy, a BJP-delegation led by Union Minister MA Naqvi met the EC to discuss the allegations. After the meeting Naqvi said Malviya had gotten information from at TV channel.

“Malviya’s tweet was based on a TV channel’s source. It had no intention to undermine the stature of the EC. A Karnataka Congress leader had also tweeted the same thing. We agree that he (Malviya) shouldn’t have tweeted it,” Naqvi said. Malviya claimed  his information was sourced from a television channel.

In a letter to the poll body, Malviya reportedly said a TV channel was his “sole source” of information.

“I firmly believe in the exclusive constitutional domain of the Election Commission to conduct free and fair elections in the country, and also in the confidentiality and secrecy mandated upon it in the process of doing so,” he wrote.

The Congress which has been locked with the BJP on the data mining leakage controversy for last week latched on the controversy and reacted sharply to Malviya’s tweets. Congress in-charge communications Randeep Surjewala said, “The BJP becomes the ‘Super Election Commission’ as they announce poll dates for Karnataka even before the EC. Credibility of EC is on test. Will the EC now issue notice to BJP president Amit Shah and register an FIR against BJP IT Head for leaking EC’s confidential information?”

There are 4.96 crore eligible voters (about 90 lakh added to draft electoral roll) in the State. There are 56,696 polling stations, compared to 52,034 in the 2013 polls, about 9 percent increase.

Last election, the voter turnout was around 71.45 per cent. The ceiling for expenditure is Rs 28 lakh in Karnataka. “EC Social Media hub will look into the allegations of harnessing of user information through mobile applications of political parties and political personalities,” Rawat said. He further said Facebook will remain it’s social media partner for the Karnataka Assembly poll. The EC said social media is a reality but precautions will be taken.

Karnataka has traditionally voted anti incumbency. If the Congress Government does manage to win it would be first in a two decades that a party has bucked anti incumbency to retain power.

Currently, the ruling Congress 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. Karnataka is the only major State where the Congress is in power at present and retaining it is crucial for the party morale ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The polls are being seen as politically crucial for the ruling Congress as well as the BJP as it is the only big State where the former is in power after losing a string of Assembly elections to the saffron party in the last few years. The BJP is making a concerted bid to unseat the Congress.

The State has seen bitter campaigning by both the parities with allegations of communal and political murders and tit-for-tat charges of large-scale corruption. Leaders from both parties, including PM Narendra Modi, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and BJP’s Shah visited the State multiple times over the past few months. The JD(S), led by former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, is the third player in the fray.