Windows forms application gives error when publishing, runs okay otherwise

Question

I've a simple Windows Forms application wherein I'm trying to send Toast Notifications. The applications runs fine until I try to publish it at which point it gives me the following error. The error keeps appearing when I try to do subsequent builds:

Problem generating manifest. Could not load file or assembly 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\References\CommonConfiguration\Neutral\Windows.winmd' or one of its dependencies. An attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format.

I am running this Visual Studio 2013 on Windows 8.1 (x64) system. The additonal assemblies I am referencing are:

1) C:\Program Files (x86)\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework.NETFramework\v4.5\Facades\System.Runtime.dll

2) C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Kits\8.1\References\CommonConfiguration\Neutral\Windows.winmd

Here's the code I'm referencing these in.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using Windows.UI.Notifications;
using Windows.Data.Xml.Dom;

namespace MyProject
{
    class ToastNotificationLocal
    {
        private const String APP_ID = "SomeAppID";

        private void CreateToastNotification(string Brightness)
        {
            ToastTemplateType toastTemplate = ToastTemplateType.ToastImageAndText04;
            XmlDocument toastXml = ToastNotificationManager.GetTemplateContent(toastTemplate);

            XmlNodeList toastTextElements = toastXml.GetElementsByTagName("text");
            toastTextElements[0].AppendChild(toastXml.CreateTextNode("SomeAppID! Brightness: " + Brightness));

            IXmlNode toastNode = toastXml.SelectSingleNode("/toast");
            ((XmlElement)toastNode).SetAttribute("duration", "long");
            XmlElement audio = toastXml.CreateElement("audio");
            audio.SetAttribute("silent", "false");
            toastNode.AppendChild(audio);

            ToastNotification toast = new ToastNotification(toastXml);
            ToastNotificationManager.CreateToastNotifier(APP_ID).Show(toast);
        }
    }
}

When I right click on the error in VS and click and 'show error help' it takes me to this page but there are no leads to follow after that.

Here's my current project file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="12.0" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" />
  <PropertyGroup>
    <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
    <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">x86</Platform>
    <ProjectGuid>{3EB3397F-210C-4E58-99C4-3356980DADB3}</ProjectGuid>
    <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType>
    <AppDesignerFolder>Properties</AppDesignerFolder>
    <RootNamespace>MyProject</RootNamespace>
    <AssemblyName>MyProject</AssemblyName>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.5</TargetFrameworkVersion>
    <FileAlignment>512</FileAlignment>
    <IsWebBootstrapper>false</IsWebBootstrapper>
    <PublishUrl>publish\</PublishUrl>
    <Install>true</Install>
    <InstallFrom>Disk</InstallFrom>
    <UpdateEnabled>false</UpdateEnabled>
    <UpdateMode>Foreground</UpdateMode>
    <UpdateInterval>7</UpdateInterval>
    <UpdateIntervalUnits>Days</UpdateIntervalUnits>
    <UpdatePeriodically>false</UpdatePeriodically>
    <UpdateRequired>false</UpdateRequired>
    <MapFileExtensions>true</MapFileExtensions>
    <ApplicationRevision>0</ApplicationRevision>
    <ApplicationVersion>1.0.0.%2a</ApplicationVersion>
    <UseApplicationTrust>false</UseApplicationTrust>
    <PublishWizardCompleted>true</PublishWizardCompleted>
    <BootstrapperEnabled>true</BootstrapperEnabled>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <TargetPlatformVersion>8.1</TargetPlatformVersion>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|AnyCPU' ">
    <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <Optimize>false</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Debug\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition=" '$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|AnyCPU' ">
    <PlatformTarget>AnyCPU</PlatformTarget>
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <OutputPath>bin\Release\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|x86'">
    <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
    <OutputPath>bin\x86\Debug\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <DebugType>full</DebugType>
    <PlatformTarget>x86</PlatformTarget>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <CodeAnalysisRuleSet>MinimumRecommendedRules.ruleset</CodeAnalysisRuleSet>
    <Prefer32Bit>true</Prefer32Bit>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|x86'">
    <OutputPath>bin\x86\Release\</OutputPath>
    <DefineConstants>TRACE</DefineConstants>
    <Optimize>true</Optimize>
    <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
    <PlatformTarget>x86</PlatformTarget>
    <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
    <CodeAnalysisRuleSet>MinimumRecommendedRules.ruleset</CodeAnalysisRuleSet>
    <Prefer32Bit>true</Prefer32Bit>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <ManifestCertificateThumbprint>DB986C1902841633BD28D16FF9C01E9CDCE111CA</ManifestCertificateThumbprint>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <ManifestKeyFile>MyProject_TemporaryKey.pfx</ManifestKeyFile>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <GenerateManifests>true</GenerateManifests>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <PropertyGroup>
    <SignManifests>true</SignManifests>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Reference Include="System" />
    <Reference Include="System.Core" />
    <Reference Include="System.Runtime" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xml.Linq" />
    <Reference Include="System.Data.DataSetExtensions" />
    <Reference Include="Microsoft.CSharp" />
    <Reference Include="System.Data" />
    <Reference Include="System.Deployment" />
    <Reference Include="System.Drawing" />
    <Reference Include="System.Windows.Forms" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xml" />
    <Reference Include="Windows" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Compile Include="Program.cs" />
    <Compile Include="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs" />
    <Compile Include="ToastNotificationLocal.cs" />
    <EmbeddedResource Include="Properties\Resources.resx">
      <Generator>ResXFileCodeGenerator</Generator>
      <LastGenOutput>Resources.Designer.cs</LastGenOutput>
      <SubType>Designer</SubType>
    </EmbeddedResource>
    <Compile Include="Properties\Resources.Designer.cs">
      <AutoGen>True</AutoGen>
      <DependentUpon>Resources.resx</DependentUpon>
    </Compile>
    <None Include="MyProject_TemporaryKey.pfx" />
    <None Include="Properties\Settings.settings">
      <Generator>SettingsSingleFileGenerator</Generator>
      <LastGenOutput>Settings.Designer.cs</LastGenOutput>
    </None>
    <Compile Include="Properties\Settings.Designer.cs">
      <AutoGen>True</AutoGen>
      <DependentUpon>Settings.settings</DependentUpon>
      <DesignTimeSharedInput>True</DesignTimeSharedInput>
    </Compile>
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <None Include="App.config" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include=".NETFramework,Version=v4.5">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5 %28x86 and x64%29</ProductName>
      <Install>true</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Client.3.5">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>.NET Framework 3.5 SP1 Client Profile</ProductName>
      <Install>false</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
    <BootstrapperPackage Include="Microsoft.Net.Framework.3.5.SP1">
      <Visible>False</Visible>
      <ProductName>.NET Framework 3.5 SP1</ProductName>
      <Install>false</Install>
    </BootstrapperPackage>
  </ItemGroup>
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
  <!-- To modify your build process, add your task inside one of the targets below and uncomment it. 
       Other similar extension points exist, see Microsoft.Common.targets.
  <Target Name="BeforeBuild">
  </Target>
  <Target Name="AfterBuild">
  </Target>
  -->
</Project>

After some searching it seems like it might be a bit mismatch problem. I looked at this, this and this among others. But after trying all (x86, x64, Any CPU) possible target platforms (project -> properties -> Build -> platform target) I'm still stuck and don't know how to get rid of this error.

Any pointers, please?