The Congress party is taking India on a sinister path where some people could be misled to believe that the election commission is the instrument of one party and not an independent body. This is a dangerous trend that can hurt democracy and the election commission if the practice becomes a trend among opposition parties.
Congress had proposed that the election commission should return to paper ballots in its plenary’s political resolution. The party is out to defame and diminish the election commission and its infrastructure for scoring political brownie points whenever it finds an opportunity.
This practice of the Congress continued when BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya tweeted a false news update that was flashed on Times Now. Times Now had claimed that the elections to Karnataka would be conducted on 12th May and counting would be done on 18th May.
Who announced #KarnatakaElections2018 before Election Commission:
1) Times Now at 11:07 AM (Look Video).
2) Congress IT Cell Karnataka, Srivatsa at 11:08 AM.
3) BJP IT Cell, Amit Malviya at 11:08 AM.
And Irony is Everyone blaming BJP for it. Another Hit Job to Blame BJP for Polls pic.twitter.com/f3RJOhcTDq— Anshul Saxena (@AskAnshul) March 27, 2018
However, the actual counting day was announced as 15th May by EC. The same news was tweeted by the Karnataka IT Cell in charge of Congress as well.
Malviya became a punching bag for all journalists and defenders of democracy, while questions were not raised on the Congress IT member. They claimed that the EC was now subservient to BJP IT cell. This is a far-fetched comment as it appears that both Congress and BJP IT cell members had fallen for a piece of false news. The main culprit, Times Now, was spared from all blame in the episode.
The chief election commissioner when asked by media as to how this information had leaked, he said that the matter would be investigated in depth. While the unqualified criticism of smaller parties and journalists can be ignored to some extent, irresponsible comments from a pan India party like Congress should raise eyebrows. The party extended its criticism to the election commission as well. The tweet by Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala is one of the best examples of this.
He claimed that the ‘credibility of the EC was at test and an FIR should be registered against BJP IT cell head.’ Mr Surjewala should be aware that Srivatsa (Karnataka IT cell in charge) would also be a part of this FIR. If a notice is sent to Amit Shah, even Rahul Gandhi should be receiving one.
Ironically, another Congress spokesperson felt that the BJP IT cell head would get away with it and ‘BJP is messaging that is not bound by laws’. It appears that Rahul’s partymen have picked up the art of making baseless wild allegations without any prima facie evidence.
Tehseen Poonawallah, on the other hand, claimed that the Congress didn’t have an IT Cell head at all in order to isolate his party from possible criticism. This claim is ridiculous because the man has appeared in media reports as a ‘convenor’ of Karnataka IT cell. While he may not be the ‘head’ of Karnataka IT cell, he surely belongs to the top line of Congress social media team in Karnataka.
Meanwhile, the Congress IT cell guy washed off his hands from the matter by merely saying that he tweeted the news flashed by Times Now. The same luxury is somehow not accorded to Amit Malviya of the BJP IT cell. 
The leader of Congress in Lok Sabha continues to hurl baseless allegations on BJP and the Election commission even as several media reports have highlighted that both BJP and Congress IT cell guys had fallen for the Times Now news flash on election dates for Karnataka.
Amit Malviya tweeted Karnataka elections dates at 11 am. It means BJP is dictating polling dates to Election Commission. I expect EC to work according to the Constitution and law, and not let information leak. Such a thing has never happened before: Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress. pic.twitter.com/2lnbbcEgDE
— ANI (@ANI) March 27, 2018
Amit Malviya and the BJP have submitted a letter explaining the reason for the controversial tweet and allegations flying around as a result of it. The onus is now on the EC to investigate the matter in an impartial manner and ascertain as to how Times Now accessed the information.
Letter submitted to the Election Commission by Shri @malviyamit, National In-charge, Information and Technology, BJP regarding a tweet pertaining to the election dates in Karnataka. https://t.co/0mDUFzOKCH pic.twitter.com/CziIhciO2B
— BJP (@BJP4India) March 27, 2018
The Congress had questioned the independence of EC even during the Gujarat polls. It seems that the declining electoral fortunes of the Congress have led to the strategy of shooting the messenger instead of fixing their party. Cooking up conspiracy theories must be left to media and the so-called ‘national party’ which gave us ‘independence and democracy’ must show some maturity while making comments.
