Caravan News
NEW DELHI: In the wake of the hugely embarrassing leak of the Karnataka Assembly election dates on Tuesday, the Election Commission of India has set up an enquiry committee. The term of reference for the committee mentions a Karnataka Congress official and an unnamed Kannada TV channel but there is no mention of BJP IT Cell Chief Amit Malviya who had also tweeted election dates before the official announcement by the Election Commission.
After the huge controversy over his tweet, Malviya said he tweeted the dates after the related news on Times Now TV channel. However, he deleted his tweets later. In his clarification to the Election Commission on Tuesday, he made the same point.
“It was brought to my attention that my tweet on the likely dates of Karnataka election put out in the morning on 27th March 2018 posted at 11:08 am has raised certain apprehensions. I wish to clarify that the source of my information was based on a newsbreak put out by Times Now, a leading national TV channel at 11:06 am,” he told the EC.
However, the Election Commission notice does not mention Times Now either.
The term of reference of the committee set up by the EC is enquiry from the media, Srivatsa B, In-charge of Congress Social Media, Karnataka and Kannada Channel allegedly owned by a BJP MP regarding the source of information about the schedule of Karnataka Assembly elections before its official announcement.
The 6-member committee, which includes four Deputy Election Commissioners, will submit its report within 7 days.
The Assembly elections in Karnataka will be held on May 12 and votes will be counted on May 15.
