False: Karnataka Election Commission has announced the schedule for the 2023 state assembly elections.

By: Annie Priya
February 9 2023

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Context

Karnataka's assembly elections expected to be held in April-May this year have led to rumours and false information being shared online in its lead up. An image shared on Twitter containing Kannada text is claiming to declare the dates of the 2023 Karnataka assembly election. Users are sharing the viral image with the hashtag #KarnatakaElection2023 assuming that the Karnataka Election Commission has officially released the election schedule. 

The now-viral image in Kannada reads: The election code of conduct be in place from March 27. The election notification will be published on April 17. The deadline for submitting nomination papers is on April 24. Nomination documents will be scrutinised on April 25. The deadline to withdraw nomination papers is on April 27. Voting will take place on May 12, and on May 15, counting votes will be done.

However, an image with dates of the 2018 assembly election has been digitally altered and falsely shared as the 2023 election schedule.

In Fact

Logically reached out to the Karnataka Election Commission for clarification regarding the scheduled dates of the 2023 Assembly election. Rajashekar, chief electoral officer with the state election commission, told Logically, "The schedule for 2023 Karnataka assembly election has not been declared yet. The scheduled dates will be officially declared by the Election Commission of India."

The image that has now gone viral has been digitally altered. Through a reverse image search, we found that the schedule of the Karnataka assembly election 2018 has been edited and shared as the 2023 election schedule. On March 27, 2018, Oneindia Kannada, an online Kannada news website, posted the exact image on its official Twitter page with the caption written in Kannada, which reads, "Single-phase polling in Karnataka. April 24 Last date for filing nomination papers. Scrutiny of nomination papers April 25." 

The original image has a watermark that says, 'Oneindia Kannada'. The text in Kannada with a 2018 year stamp has been highlighted in yellow. However, in the viral image, the yellow box has been edited, the year 2018 after the hyphen has been removed, and the year 2023, which is out of the yellow box, has been added.

Logically went through the press note released by the Election Commission of India on March 27, 2018, and confirmed that the dates mentioned in the image in question are of the 2018 Karnataka assembly election. Page 20 of the press note had the scheduled dates of the 2018 election.

The Hindu reports that the 2018 assembly election was held on May 12, 2018, and the current assembly's term expires on May 24, 2023. The election is likely to be held before May 24, but the election dates have not been announced officially. The article added that the state Election Commission is working to ensure due preparation and verification of electoral rolls are completed before releasing the dates. 

The Verdict

The 2018 Karnataka assembly election schedule has been digitally altered and falsely shared as the schedule for the upcoming election. Therefore, we have marked this claim as false.