Picked poll date from Times Now TV, BJP leader tells EC

After his tweeting of the Karnataka poll date ahead of the EC's formal announcement created a controversy, BJP's IT cell head Amit Malviya on Tuesday told the Commission that he had picked the date from the Times Now news channel.

Malviya also pointed out that the same date was also tweeted by the Karnataka Congress's social media in-charge Srivatsa.

"It was brought to my attention that my tweet on the likely dates of Karnataka election put out in the morning of 27th March 2018 posted at 11.08 a.m has raised certain apprehensions. I wish to clarify that the source of my information was a newsbreak put out by Times Now at 11.06 a.m," Malviya said in his letter to the Election Commission (EC).

"As is evident now, the final dates announced by the EC were different from what Times Now had reported, that was the sole source of information in my tweet," the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader added.

He also attached with his letter screenshots of the television channel along with the time stamps when they broadcast this news.

"l am also attaching a similar tweet by the social media in-charge of Congress in Karnataka who, it seems, also used the same source to post the same information exactly when I did," he said.

Malviya said that he "firmly believes 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 process of doing so".

"lt is my kind submission that my tweet was in no way intended to infringe upon the constitutional mandate of the Election Commission. I hope your good self will take this submission in good faith," Malviya said.

--IANS

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