Karnataka election: Campaigning ends today; voter ID row continues; updates

With the Karnataka Assembly election 2018 just two days away, the BJP and Congress' high-voltage campaigning will come to an end on Thursday at 5 pm. Eyeing to sweep the crucial polls, the political parties will hold multiple rallies today in their last attempt to woo the voter. For the BJP, party president Amit Shah and the party's chief ministerial candidate B S Yeddyurappa will be campaigning in the state today, while Congress President Rahul Gandhi and incumbent Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will campaign for their party on the final day.

Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress chief Gandhi, the Karnataka election campaign has also seen political heavyweights Sonia Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath campaign for their respective parties.

The last day of campaigning for the Karnataka polls comes after Prime Minister Modi and Congress chief Gandhi were face-to-face in the state on the second last day for the campaigning. Working seriously on his 'Congress Mukt Bharat' mission, Modi used all of his oratory skills to lambast the Congress in his four election rallies on Wednesday. On the other hand, Gandhi said in his Basavanagudi rally that the people of Karnataka would reject Prime Minister Modi and the BJP. The Congress president also attacked the Prime Minister for being silent on the issue of alleged Dalit atrocities.

Karnataka election: Modi besotted with Congress-free India, says Sonia

Describing the electoral fight in Karnataka as one of 'clean versus dirty politics', the Congress today hit out at the BJP for fielding the "corrupt" as it launched an initiative for public funding of its candidates.

Seeking to bring transparency in electoral funding, the Congress through the "crowdfunding platform" has collected Rs 5.56 lakh through 213 donations, against its "goal of Rs 28 lakh collections" from the public.

For the first time ever, the party launched the online initiative claiming all contributions made will get income tax relief.

The Congress had earlier strongly opposed the electoral bonds initiative announced by the Modi government for electoral funding.

The party's initiative comes at a time when there is a big political debate on cleaning the political system and bringing in more transparency.