Karnataka poll date leak: EC sets up panel to probe
New Delhi: The Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat on Tuesday caught by surprise when he learnt during a news conference that a BJP leader had already made public the election dates in Karnataka, even before he could do it.
The CEC was yet to read out the poll schedule when reporters drew his attention to the tweet by the BJP IT cell chief, Amit Malviya, who had already posted that Karnataka would go to polls on May 12.
The EC later constituted a committee of senior officers of the commission to investigate the matter and submit its report within seven days.
"Certain things may have leaked for which Election Commission will take appropriate action," he told reporters.
"It will be investigated. Be assured, legally and administratively befitting action would be taken," added Rawat, as several mediapersons repeatedly asked him for the commission's reaction to the unprecedented leak of the election dates.
"Karnataka will vote on 12 May 2018, counting on 18 May 2018," Malviya posted on Twitter at 11.08 am - almost 15 minutes before the CEC officially announced the schedule. He got the date of polling correct, but the date of counting wrong. The CEC said that the votes would be counted on May 15.
The BJP IT cell chief, however, deleted the tweet after it triggered a controversy.
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KSRTC inducts 20 Ambaari Utsav sleeper buses
Bengaluru, Dec 24: Karnataka Transport and Muzrai Minister Ramalingareddy on Tuesday inaugurated 20 Ambaari Utsav sleeper buses of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC).
He also distributed temporary deputation orders for Driver-cum-Conductors to 82 candidates with highest scores in the driving test conducted at the Humnabad Training Centre.
Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao, MLA Gubbi, chairman of KSRTC S R Srinivas and vice-chairman Mohammed Rizwan Nawab were also present.
Ambaari Utsav sleeper buses will operate between Bengaluru and Kundapura, Mangaluru, Nellore, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Kozhikode, Thrissur and Ernakulam.
According to KSRTC, 35.43 lakh passengers daily make use of its service through 8,896 vehicles.
It also stated that the Karnataka government has approved addition of 5,800 new buses to the state transport corporations, of which 4,301 buses have been added across four corporations – KSRTC, Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation, North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation and Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation -- in the past one year.
The government has also granted permission for the recruitment of 9,000 posts across four corporations and 2,144 drivers, conductors, and technical staff have been recruited till now. The recruitment process for 6,856 positions will be completed soon.
KSRTC launched 20 Ambari Utsav buses on Tuesday. In total, KSRTC now has 40 buses. The newly launched buses are available for service from today.@santwana99 @RLR_BTM @dineshgrao @KSRTC_Journeys @AshwiniMS_TNIE @aknisreekarthik @ramupatil_TNIE @XpressBengaluru pic.twitter.com/4buyAIYzBs
— Nagaraja Gadekal (@gadekal2020) December 24, 2024
