Karnataka Assembly election date not leaked, says Election Commission

The committee probing the alleged news leak of the Karnataka poll schedule submitted its report to the Election Commission on Friday, observing that the broadcast of dates by some media groups based on mere speculation was “avoidable” and that the political parties should also have not tweeted the same.

Based on the that the dates flashed by the news channel on March 27 were not entirely accurate, the Commission concluded that it was not a case of information leak and “was mere speculation.”

“Thus, the committee is of the opinion that there was no leak of [the] schedule of elections to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, 2018,” said the report.

“It was also felt that the political parties should have avoided tweeting at the crucial juncture when the Commission was announcing poll dates,” said the committee.

Citing responses of the parties involved, the committee said it could be safely concluded that the alleged information was first displayed on Times Now, which was used by all others in tweet/media (TV). The broadcast showed the poll date as May 12 and the counting date as May 18.

However, minutes later, the Commission had announced May 12 as the poll date and May 15 as the counting date.