PM Narendra Modi to visit Karnataka on March 25 with EC likely to announce poll dates soon

The Election Commission (EC) may announce the schedule of the Assembly polls in Karnataka on Sunday or early next week.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit the state on Saturday to inaugurate 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.

The EC may announce the schedule of the Assembly polls in the state on Sunday or early next week, sources in New Delhi said. 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. Announcement, launch or inauguration of any new scheme or project by any minister of the central or the state government will be barred after the Model Code of Conduct will come into force.

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The poll-panel had announced the schedule of the Assembly polls in Gujarat and brought into force the Model Code of Conduct on November 3 last year, a couple of days after the prime minister had returned from a visit to the poll-bound state, where he had dedicated or laid the foundation stones of several development projects worth about Rs 11,760 crore.

The term of the existing legislative Assembly of Karnataka will end on May 24. The commission will have to finish the poll process to elect a new 224-member-Assembly by then.

The EC had declared the schedule of the last two Assembly elections in Karnataka on March 20 in 2013 and on March 27 in 2018. The polling had been held on May 5, 2013 and on May 27, 2018. The votes had been counted on May 8, 2013 and May 12, 2018.

The EC and the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka completed almost all necessary preparations for the declaration of the schedule of the Assembly polls in the state, a source told DH in New Delhi.

The prime minister may take a ride on the Namma Metro after inaugurating the new stretch between K R Puram and Whitefield during his visit to the state on Saturday. He is expected to address a public meeting in Davangere before returning to Delhi.

Modi’s visit to Karnataka on Saturday is going to be his seventh to the poll-bound state this year. He had earlier visited the state on March 12 to inaugurate the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway in Mandya and the IIT campus in Dharwad.