Kochi, Feb 29: The Kerala Non-Resident Indians' Commission on Friday passed a resolution to request the Centre and Election Commission (EC) to make appropriate amendments in the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951, to ensure voting rights to the non-resident Indians working abroad. According to People’s Representation Act, 1951, None-Resident Indians (NRIs) can vote by proxy.
The Commission is a statutory body constituted for the welfare of Non-Resident Keralites working outside India.
The Centre had introduced a bill for this purpose which was passed by the Lok Sabha in 2018, but the same has since lapsed.
Therefore, the Kerala NRI Commission decided to request the Centre to consider introducing the bill in the next session of Parliament considering the interest of the NRI community at large.
The resolution was moved by commission member and NRI entrepreneur Shamsheer Vayalil, who is also a petitioner in the writ petition, filed regarding this in the Supreme Court.
"The central government may consider introducing the bill in the next session of the Parliament session considering the interest of the NRI community at large," read the resolution which will now be sent to the Ministry of Law and the Election Commission (EC).
Commission chairman Justice PD Rajan said the right to vote for NRIs is a genuine demand.
"This is the time that we step up pressure on the agencies concerned to implement this. Voting from the workplace would be a different experience for them. It would be a decisive step," he said.
This fresh development comes at a time when a petition filed in the Supreme Court on the same topic last week came before a bench headed by Justice Deepak Gupta, which considered the case and said it will be heard in April.
"We are expecting a favourable decision from the Supreme Court. We would also approach the NRI commission in other states and request them to raise the same demand," said Vayalil.
If implemented, millions of NRIs around the world would be able to exercise their franchise in the electoral processes of the nation. According to the estimate of the Ministry of External Affairs, there are about 3.10 crore NRIs.
Bengaluru, Jun 8: Karnataka recorded 308 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, with the majority of patients being domestic returnees, raising the state's tally to 5,760 an official said, here on Monday. "Over 308 new cases were reported from Sunday 5 pm to Monday 5 pm," said the health official.
Like everyday Maharashtra returnees accounted for 96 per cent (267 cases) of the 277 new cases. Majority infections in Karnataka nowadays are returnees, mostly from the state's northern neighbour.
A few returnees also came from Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. There was one international returnee, a 23-year-old man from Dakshina Kannada, who came from the UAE. Only 24 new infections were contacts of earlier cases.
On Monday, cases spiked in Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Bidar, Udupi, Bengaluru Urban, Ballari and Gadag.
Among the new cases, Kalaburagi contributed (99), followed by Yadgir (66), Bidar (48), Udupi (45), Bengaluru Urban (18), Ballari (8), Gadag (6), Shivamogga and Dharwad (4 each), Hassan and Dakshina Kannada (3 each), Bagalkote (2) and Koppal and Ramnagar (1 each). Four patients are suffering from Influenza-Like Illness (ILI).
Meanwhile, record 387 patients got discharged in the past 24 hours. On Monday, three persons - A 67-year-old man, a 48-year-old woman and another 65-year-old woman, all from Bengaluru Urban, succumbed to coronavirus.
Of all the cases, 3,175 are active, 2,519 discharged, 64 dead and 14 in the ICU.
In the past 24 hours, Karnataka tested 8,779 people. Of this, 8,231 reports returned negative. A number of tests were lower than other days. In total, 3.93 lac samples have been tested so far, of which 3.8 lac have returned negative.
Currently, Udupi is leading the state's COVID-19 burden with 628 active cases, followed by Kalaburagi (539), Yadgir (488), Raichur (276) and Bengaluru Urban (176) among others.
Bengaluru Urban has accounted for 18 deaths, followed by Kalaburagi (7), Bidar, Vijayapura, Davangere and Dakshina Kannada (6 each) and Chikkaballapur (3 each), among others.
Mangaluru, Feb 18: Within days after Kambala racer Srinivasa Gowda emerged a national hero, another Kambala racer Nishant Shetty has grabbed headlines.
Nishant Shetty from Bajagoli Jogibettu reportedly broke Gowda’s record at the Venoor Kambala on Sunday. Shetty recorded 143m in 13.68 seconds. If calculated for 100m he clocks it in 9.51 seconds. His speed is faster than Gowda who clocked 9.55 seconds.
According to Kambala organisers, with Shetty’s feat, four participants have joined the elite club of racers who have completed the 100 metres in less than ten seconds.
They are Iruvathur Anand (9.57 secs), Akkeri Suresh Shetty (9.57 secs), Srinivas Gowda (9.55 secs) and Nishant Shetty (9.51 secs). Anand and Suresh Shetty had participated in the same Venoor Kambala where Nishant emerged first.
Kambala is an annual race held in Karnataka where people sprint 143m through paddy fields with the buffaloes. During the race, the racers try to bring the buffaloes under control by holding their reins tight and beating them, making it amply clear that the animal plays an equally important role in achieving the timing. Traditionally, it is sponsored by local Tuluva landlords and households in the coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.
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