Live Updates: Last day of campaign for Karnataka Elections on May 12

Follow for Live Updates from the last day of campaigning for Karnataka Assembly Elections on May 12

Senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel, while on a visit to Gandhinagar, Gujarat, said Congress will get an absolute majority in Karnataka with around 120 seats; the BJP will not get more than 65 seats

"My mother is Italian. She also lived a larger part of her life in India. She is more Indian than many, many Indians. She has sacrificed for this country, she has suffered for this country. If the PM likes to abuse her, he may do so if it pleases him. It shows the quality of the PM when he makes these comments. If he likes it, then let him," Rahul Gandhi was quoted as saying by NDTV in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's digs at his mother Sonia Gandhi's Italian origin

In a press conference in Bengaluru, Rahul Gandhi accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of diverting attention away from the important issues of the country, spreading hatred among people, keeping silent on the atrocities and attacks on Dalits and women and on youth unemployment.

"Let me tell you, in my view... China is a competitive power, China is also a rising power. We are in an environment where we have to manage our foreign policy with extreme care. Fundamental blunders are being made, fundamental blunders," Gandhi was quoted as saying by IANS.

"I see a complete change in the position of Russia with regard to India. I see the Russians supplying Pakistan with weapons which they have never done before," he said. "So there is a disaster that has been created in the foreign policy. And it is dangerous for this country."

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea seeking to debar Congress candidates from the Karnataka Assembly elections for seeking votes on religious grounds by promising welfare schemes for a minority community in its manifesto.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud rejected the plea by Sri Ram Sena leader Pramod Muthalik, observing that promising welfare measures to a community which is socially and economically backward, cannot be treated as seeking votes in the name of religion.

The court also said that it cannot interfere after the notification of the election and that too, just 48 hours before the polling.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of trying to crush the spirit of the people of Karnataka and said the Congress will win Saturday's Assembly polls hands down, reported IANS.

"There is an idea in India that says the entire country must be ruled with one idea, one imposition and everybody must submit to that idea. That is what RSS is trying to do. Institution after institution is being attacked by the RSS," he said.

"Supreme Court judges for the first time are asking people for justice. The reason for this is because the RSS is placing its people everywhere. My friends in Karnataka listen to this carefully. The idea is to crush your spirit. We will never ever allow your spirit and ideas of Basavanna to be crushed," he said.

The BJP has gathered at least 50 of its senior leaders for rallies and roadshows across the state, reported NDTV. The list includes a battery of Union ministers and party chief Amit Shah. The Prime Minister started the packed day with an address to party workers on his Narendra Modi App.

“I have no connection with the flat (where 9746 voter IDs were found). I stay with my family in a different flat in the same building. I'm not involved in this case,” Rangaraju, man who according to flat owner Manjula Nanjamari is the tenant, has been quoted as saying by ANI