BJP’s IT cell chief tweets Karnataka poll date before EC announcement

New Delhi, March 27
BJP’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya on Tuesday tweeted the date of the Karnataka Assembly polls before the Election Commission announced it, prompting the panel to describe the leak as a “very serious issue” that merited a probe and “stringent action”.
Malviya, however, tweeted that he had only quoted a news channel.
His tweet came when Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat was addressing a press conference to announce the schedule for Karnataka polls but had not announced the date.
The BJP IT cell head said the election would be held on May 12 and counting would take place on May 18. While he was correct on the polling day, the votes will be counted on May 15.
When Rawat’s attention was drawn towards the tweet, he described it as a “very serious issue”.
He said people could conjecture but noted that as information had been “leaked”, the Election Commission would probe the matter and take “stringent action” both “legally and administratively”.
The CEC later said the tweet was incorrect as the actual date of counting was May 15 and not May 18.

Committee

The Election Commission announced a committee of senior officials on Tuesday evening to investigate the leak.

The committee has to submit its report within a week with suggestions of measures needed to prevent such occurrences in the future.

In a statement, the election regulator referred to Malviya’s tweet, and said: “The Commission immediately directed that the matter be probed and necessary and effective action be taken. Accordingly, Commission has constituted a committee of senior officers of Election Commission to investigate the matter and give its report within seven days”.

“The Committee would also suggest steps needed to prevent any such eventuality in future. The Committee set up by the Commission has already sought information from the concerned media organisations and individuals,” the statement said.