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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.

Udupi, June 21: An entrepreneur lost his life after the car he was driving veered off the road and plunged into a roadside tank near Barkuru in Brahmavar taluk of Udupi district today.

The deceased has been identified as Santosh Shetty, a resident of Vakwadi in Kundapur taluk. He is the proprietor of Laxmi Glass and Plywood, Koteshwara. 

A woman, identified as Shweta, who was also on board the car suffered critical injuries.  

The mishap occurred when the duo was heading to Vakwadi from Brahmavar in Hyundai Car sedan car. 

Shetty lost control over his vehicle while negotiating a curve at Chaulikere and the car plunged off the road as there was no barricade. 

Even though local residents began rescue operation immediately, Shetty breathed his last on the spot. Shweta was rescued and shifted to a hospital in Manipal for treatment.

Bengaluru, Apr 17: Forty-four new cases of coronavirus have been reported in the State till now, said Karnataka's Health Department on Friday.

"44 new COVID-19 cases reported in the State from 5 pm Thursday to 5 pm on Friday. The total number of positive cases in the State is 359 including 13 deaths and 88 discharges," said the Health Department.

Meanwhile, a meeting was convened to review the situation on the rising cases of coronavirus in the State. According to Karnataka Chief Minister's Office (CMO), the meeting was attended by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, Home Minister Basavaraja Bommai, Health Minister B Sriramulu, and Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan.

The CMO said: "Earlier we used to do 500 tests per day. Now we are doing 2,000 tests. The suggestion was made to take care of the people who are in the ICU to prevent death. It was suggested and planned to work out a protocol for the treatment of COVID-19 patients all over the state."

The meeting also stressed the need for plasma treatment. Experts opined that people having influenza-like symptoms like fever, cold, breathlessness, etc., need to get tested for COVID 19.

The CMO said: "Officers were directed to conduct tests of the people with influenza-like symptoms in the districts where nil cases have been reported. ICMR has issued circular to set up two labs in each district and one lab in each medical college. In this direction, efforts are being made to set up 10 more labs in the State by the end of April."

"It was also decided to be prepared for treating an increased number of patients after relaxing in lockdown. It was also decided to issue guidelines to companies that would start working after relaxing lockdown. It was also decided to appeal to people to download Arogya Setu App. We will meet on April 21 again to decide further course of action," added the CMO.