Karnataka Assembly Polls: Election dates for Karnataka polls could be announced within 2-5 days

BENGALURU: According to media reports, the Election Commission of India (ECI) may announce the schedule of the Assembly polls in Karnataka on Sunday or early next week and the Model Code of Conduct is likely to come into effect immediately. The State Election commission has already communicated the urgency in writing to the State administration and instructed it to be prepared. Licensed weapon and personal arms holders have been instructed to deposit their weapons at the nearest police station and other similar instructions were already issued weeks earlier.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi may visit the state on Saturday to inaugurate the Sri Madhusudan Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in Chikkaballapur and the Metro line between K R Puram and Whitefield in Bengaluru. He is also expected to announce some new schemes and development projects to boost the electoral prospects of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, media reports claimed.

The EC may announce the schedule of the Assembly polls in the state on Sunday or early next week, sources in New Delhi said, with the poll dates likely to be in end-April or the first half of May.

The Model Code of Conduct will come into force across the state immediately after the declaration of the schedule of the polls by the Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and the two other Election Commissioners, Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel, in New Delhi. A press conference may be called this Sunday or on Monday or Tuesday at the latest by the ECI, sources said.

Any announcement, launch or inauguration of any new government scheme or project by any minister of the central or state government will be prohibited after the Model Code of Conduct comes into force.

The BJP is in a very aggressive mode and is ensuring that all public announcements of schemes that will benefit its poll prospects are made before the MCC comes into force.