66.21% polling in 14 LS seats of Karnataka: DK highest; Bengaluru Central lowest

News Network
April 18, 2019

Bengaluru, Apr 18: The fierce, high-decibel election to the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies of Karnataka witnessed an estimated voter turnout of 66.21% in the first phase on Thursday. Polling was largely peaceful except for stray incidents of violence and large-scale complaints of missing names in the electoral rolls.

Bengaluru’s voter apathy continued with just about 48% of the city’s voters showing up at polling stations in the Bangalore North, Bangalore Central and Bangalore South constituencies. The average voter turnout in Bengaluru in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls was 55.95%. A total of 2.67 crore citizens were eligible to vote. In 2014, these 14 Lok Sabha constituencies recorded 68.6% voter turnout.

Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar said the voter turnout could touch 69% once the final reports are obtained from the returning officers. The Election Commission will release the final voting figures on Friday.

The commission had, on its official mobile app, shown a “tentative” voter turnout of 69%, with the highest in the Mandya segment (80%) where Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil was locked in an intense fight with independent candidate Sumalatha, the wife of late actor-turned-politician M H Ambareesh.

However, according to figures released by the CEO, the highest voter turnout as of 6 pm Thursday was 77.22% recorded in the Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha segment, followed by Tumkur (77.03%) where former prime minister H D Deve Gowda is contesting. The lowest turnout was in Bangalore Central at 47.31%.

Widespread complaints from voters about their names “missing” from the electoral rolls were reported from almost all constituencies. Aggrieved citizens expressed their ire on social media.

Disruption

Polling was disrupted for some time in some places due to technical glitches. Two incidents of violence were reported from the Mandya LS constituency. The police had to resort to mild lathicharge when two groups clashed in the village of Doddarasinakere, Ambareesh’s native place, in the presence of Nikhil. In another incident in Malavalli, some JD(S) workers reportedly thrashed a polling agent accusing him of urging citizens to vote for Sumalatha.

In Honnur of Chitradurga, a skirmish between Congress and BJP workers left one person injured.

A total of 241 candidates were in the fray across the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies spread across the Old Mysore region and some coastal districts. This election is touted as a litmus test for the Congress-JD(S) alliance against the BJP. The outcome of the polls could have a bearing on the longevity of the Kumaraswamy-led coalition government.

Prominent candidates who went to polls on Thursday included former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda (Tumkur), his grandsons Nikhil (Mandya) and Prajwal Revanna (Hassan). Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda (Bangalore North), senior Congress leaders M Veerappa Moily (Chikkaballapur) and K H Muniyappa (Kolar) were also in the fray. BJP’s L S Tejasvi Surya faced senior Congressman B K Hariprasad in Bangalore South.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 6: Students and teachers from various colleges in Bengaluru gathered at the Town Hall in the city to protest against the violence which broke out at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) campus in New Delhi on January 5.

The students raised slogans against Home Minister Amit Shah and Delhi Police.

Placards that read 'The more you attack, the stronger we become', 'Take off your masks terrorist', 'With JNU' were seen during the protest.

"We are here to protest against the incident that took place at JNU with our brothers and sisters. What Delhi Police did was shameful and they should have taken charge of the situation long before and not waited for three hours. We stand with JNU," Nisha, a protestor told ANI.

Professors present at the protest expressed regret over the incident and said attacks on the universities is a sick situation in the country.

"This is sick, where have we come to -- violence in the universities? I was so safe when I was studying in college; what we are giving to our students is horrible," said Sangeeta, a professor present at the protest.

Politicians, cutting across party lines, have condemned the attack on students in JNU and demanded strict action against those found guilty.

More than 18 students were taken to the AIIMS Trauma Centre after a masked mob entered the JNU campus and attacked them and some professors with sticks and rods.

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News Network
January 12,2020

 Bengaluru, Jan 12: Two pilgrims from Bengaluru, who were siblings, drowned in sea off Auro Beach in Puducherry today.

The deceased have been identified as V Gauthman, 22, and his brother Vivek, 20.

Gauthman and Vivek were among a group of around 150 devotees from Bengaluru to the Adhiparasakhi temple at Melmaruvathur in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu. They started their journey from Bengaluru in three buses on Friday.

After offering special puja at Adhiparasakthi temple and worshipping at a few other temples, they reached Auro Beach on Sunday afternoon. 

While they were having lunch on the beach, Gauthman entered the sea. He was caught in a huge wave.

Vivek, who tried to rescue his brother, too was caught in the wave.

Other pilgrims and fishermen began to search for them in fishing boats.

After an hour, their bodies were washed ashore, around two km from the spot.

The Auroville police retrieved the bodies and sent them for postmortem.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 28: The Karnataka government on Saturday said that the state run Indira Canteens would provide food packets free of cost to the poor and needy in the wake of the lockdown, the government said here on Saturday.

The canteens would operate in three schedules -from 7:30 AM to 10 AM, 12:30 PM to 3 PM and 7:30 PM to 9 PM, the government said in a public announcement

During the scheduled hours, street side vendors, labourers and poor would be provided food free of cost.

After the cabinet meeting on Friday, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa had said food packets would be provided to the poor and needy with the help of some organisations through the Canteens and had sought the help of everyone in this regard.

The State-sponsored, subsidised 'Indira Canteens' as of now serves breakfast at Rs five and lunch and dinner at Rs 10.

The government asked people availing the facility to maintain cleanliness at the canteen and staff who serve food to compulsorily use masks and hand gloves.

It also said soaps and sanitizers should be made available at the canteens.

The government also asked people to maintain a minimum distance of one metre while standing in queue and take all precautionary measures.

Earlier, a day after announcing that food would be provided free of cost through the canteens for daily wagers, Yediyurappa on March 24 had said it has been decided that the canteens will not be opened, after realizing that it was leading to crowding, which drew criticism.

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