Bengaluru, Apr 15: With the reporting of the death of an 80-yr-old female from Hirebagewadi taluk in Belagavi district, the number of persons, who were died due to COVID-19 related disease, increased to 12, in Karnataka on Wednesday.
According to official sources, the deceased was a relative of another COVID-19 infected person, was succumbed to death this morning at a designated Hospital in Belagavi district.
Bengaluru, Feb 18: Deputy chief minister Laxman Savadi was elected to the legislative council on Monday and although it was a done deal that he would win, a vote from across the aisle spiced up the election.
Counting was conducted soon after ballots were cast and Savadi polled 113 of the 120 votes cast, including the vote of disgruntled JD(S) legislator GT Devegowda. Seven votes were declared invalid. Members of the two opposition parties — Congress and JD(S) — abstained from voting.
The election was necessitated following the resignation of Rizwan Arshad of the Congress. Rizwan resigned after he was elected to the legislative assembly from the Shivajinagar constituency in the assembly bypolls held for 15 seats in December last year.
BR Anil Kumar, who was initially promised the support of both Congress and JD(S) was supposed to contest as an independent candidate. However, as both parties refused to support him at the last minute, he withdrew, paving the way for Savadi’s victory.
The BJP has 117 members in the 225-member assembly, but N Mahesh of the BSP and two independents, H Nagesh and Sharath Bachchegowda, besides GT Devegowda also voted, taking the total electorate to 120 (including the speaker). BJP’s SA Ramadas did not turn up because of health reasons.
“I would like to thank all those who were responsible for my victory. Special thanks to leaders of my party and chief minister BS Yediyurappa, who gave me the opportunity to be the BJP candidate,” said Savadi.
Winning this council election was crucial for Savadi to retain his ministry as he was not an elected member of either of the houses. Rules mandate that a non-member must get elected either to the assembly or council within six months after taking over as minister. February 20 was the deadline for Savadi, who had lost 2018 assembly polls from Athani, to get elected.
Officials in the assembly secretariat said seven votes were invalid because voters had wrongly marked their choices on ballot paper. According to norms, a voter has to mark numerical one, two and three against the names of the candidates in order of preference. Marking only numerical one is allowed. However, six ballots had a tick mark, while a voter had registered a cross mark. Since it was a secret ballot, it was not known who the MLAs were whose votes were invalid.
“The ballot papers bear serial numbers and they are randomly distributed. It is virtually impossible to say who a voter cast his or her vote for,” said assembly secretary MK Vishalakashi, the retuning officer for the bypoll.
Bengaluru, Apr 21: Karnataka cabinet on Monday decided to continue the COVID-19 lockdown measures currently in force in the state till May 3 without any relaxation, Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister J C Madhuswamy said.
However, leaving a window open, it authorised chief minister B S Yediyurappa and the COVID-19 Task Force to meet in three or four days to review and take further decision about any relaxation, he told reporters.
"Today cabinet has decided it (the norms) will be extended up to May 3... there will be no relaxation and the situation that that exists as of today will continue," he said.
Pending the cabinet decision, chief secretary T M Vijay Bhaskar had on Sunday issued fresh orders directing the continuation of the stringent lockdown measures issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs till the midnight of April 21.
Meanwhile, five new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Karnataka, taking the total number of infections in the state to 395, the Health department said on Monday.
"Five new positive cases have been reported from last evening to this noon... Till date 395 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed. This includes 16 deaths and 111 discharges," the department said in its mid-day situation update.
All the five fresh cases are from Kalaburagi and contacts of patients who have already tested positive.
Four of them are men of age 17, 13, 50 and 19, and one woman aged 30.
Mangaluru, Aug 1: A teenage boy, who was critically injured in a road accident at Manchi village in Bantwal taluk, breathed his last at a private hospital in the city today.
The victim has been identified as Mohammad Unais (17), a resident of Bolanthoor village.
The mishap occurred yesterday (July 31) at around 6 p.m. when Unais was riding a motorbike.
In his bid to overtake a speeding lorry near the Manchi mosque, the boy lost control over his motorbike, which first rammed into an auto-rickshaw and then collided with the same lorry.
The impact was such that the boy was thrown onto the road. He was immediately rushed to a hospital in Mangaluru.
He breathed his last early today without responding to any treatment.
A case has been registered at jurisdictional Melkar Traffic Police Station and investigations are on.
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