New Delhi:

Hours after the Election Commission of India officially announced the date of the upcoming Delhi Assembly Polls, Aam Aadmi Party USA shared a video of BJP Delhi chief Manoj Tiwari in which he could be heard saying that the fate of political parties in the national capital will be known on February 8. According to reports, the interview was published on 21st December 2019. However, Tiwari later tried to explain in the video that he was just predicting the dates of polls as last time it was held on February 7.

"Whether he (Kejriwal) is a dabang (influential) or not will be known on February 8,” Tiwari said when he was asked to comment on who is more influential in Delhi. When the host asked whether he has revealed the date of the election, Tiwari claimed that he was only predicting. "Last time, the polls were held on February 7. This time, it could be held on February 8 or February 14," the BJP’s Delhi chief said.

This is not the first time when a BJP leader in controversy over election dates. Earlier, the party’s IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted the date of the Karnataka assembly polls before the Election Commission announced it.

Malviya, however, later tweeted that he had only quoted a news channel. His tweet came when then Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) OP Rawat was addressing a press conference to announce the schedule for Karnataka polls but had not announced the date.

When Mr.Manoj Tiwari knew the Election Dates much Earlier, why we were waiting for E C to announce it through Press Conference. Was E C authenticating Mr.Tiwari?@BhavikaKapoor5 @snapnchat @RiaRevealed Any Idea?? pic.twitter.com/KvFnroQ7sG — Asif Rahman (@Asifrahmanmolla) January 6, 2020

The BJP IT cell head had said the election would be held on May 12 and counting would take place on 18 May. While he was correct on the polling day, the counting of votes took place on 15 May. When Rawat’s attention was drawn towards the tweet, he described it as a “very serious issue".

He later said the tweet was incorrect as the actual date of counting was 15 May and not 18 May.