Karnataka Elections

Amid an ongoing controversy over the Waqf Board land issue, Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders staged a protest against the state government on Saturday, demanding the removal of the term

Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra on Tuesday said that the Congress government in the state and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah were not honest on internal reservation among SCs and were only trying to use the issue for politics ahead of bypolls for three Assembly segments. The Karnataka Cabinet on Monday gave its consent to provide internal reservation among Scheduled Castes (SC) and decided to constitute a commission under a retired High Court judge that will be tasked with collecting empirical data. "If at all Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was serious about internal reservation, also on the Kantharaj report (on Socio-Economic and Education Survey, popularly known as the caste census) he would have taken action long back, but Siddaramaiah and Congress party only believes in taking political advantage and creating more confusion on this particular issue," Vijayendra said in response to a question on internal reservation. Speaking to reporters here, he said, "I don't think the chief

A debate is simmering in Karnataka: About the performance of the "Congress guarantees" that brought the party to power in the state in May last year. Aditi Phadnis explains

Voting is underway on Monday in the biennial elections to six seats in the Karnataka Legislative Council from teachers' and graduates' constituencies. Seventy-eight contestants are in the fray. Counting of votes will be held on June 6. In the 75-member Upper House, the Congress has 29 members. The polls are being held for the constituencies of Karnataka North East Graduates, Karnataka South West Graduates, Bangalore Graduates, Karnataka South-East Teachers, Karnataka South-West Teachers and Karnataka South Teachers. These seats fell vacant following the retirement of six members. The graduates' constituencies and teachers' constituencies have 3.63 lakh and 70,260 voters, respectively. The Election Commission has set up 170 polling stations for the teachers' constituencies and 461 polling stations for the graduates' constituencies. The Congress has fielded Marithibba Gowda (South Teachers constituency), K K Manjunath (South-West Teachers), Ayanur Manjunath (South-West Graduates),

With sexual-abuse accused Prajwal Revanna's arrest, the Congress on Saturday questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "silence" on the matter and claimed that he has "failed" to provide justice to women in the last 10 years. Suspended Janata Dal (Secular) MP Revanna, facing sexual-abuse allegations, was remanded in police custody on Friday, hours after he was arrested by a Bengaluru Police team on his return from Germany. A special court in Bengaluru remanded him in police custody till June 6. Revanna was arrested in the wee hours of Friday by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), minutes after he landed in Bengaluru past midnight from Germany. He had left the country on April 27. Hitting out at Modi for "allowing" Revanna to flee in the first place, All India Mahila Congress president Alka Lamba said letting a "mass rapist" escape is "Modi ki Guarantee". Revanna, the member of Parliament from Karnataka's Hassan, has been arrested by the SIT constituted by the state government, she

Suspended JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, facing allegations of sexually abusing several women, was arrested by the SIT probing the case, minutes after he landed from Germany here in the wee hours of Friday. The 33 year-old MP was arrested at the Kempegowda International Airport by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), as soon as he returned to Bengaluru from Munich. A large number of policemen were deployed there to ensure that he was taken safely to police station for investigation. The MP returned to Bengaluru a month after the scandal broke out, only to be taken into custody by the Central Industrial Security Forces sleuths, who later handed him over to the SIT. After the formalities, the SIT took him under its custody, sources said. Exactly a month after he left the country, Prajwal Revanna, who is facing charges of sexually abusing several women, had on May 27 released a video stating he will appear before the SIT on May 31.

Eighty-eight Lok Sabha seats (including parts of the outer Manipur seat), across 13 states and Union Territories, are set to vote today

An estimated 22.34 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 11 am during the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in 14 constituencies in Karnataka on Friday. Long queues were seen at many polling booths, as people, especially senior citizens and morning walkers, came out to vote during the early hours of the voting, which began at 7 am. According to election officials, the voter percentage till 11 am was about 22.34 per cent. Out of 14 segments that are going to polls today, highest turnout of 30.98 per cent was recorded in Dakshina Kannada, followed by Udupi-Chikmagalur 29.03 per cent, and the least 19.21 per cent in Bangalore Central. The turnout was 19.81 per cent in Bangalore South, and 19.78 per cent in Bangalore North. In the first phase, the Congress is contesting in all 14 seats, BJP has fielded nominees in 11 and its alliance partner JD(S), which joined the National Democratic Alliance in (NDA) in September last year, in three -- Hassan, Mandya and Kolar. Besides the three, .

The actor, clad in a red printed shirt and white trousers, arrived at his designated polling station in Bengaluru to get his finger inked

The Congress and BJP will lock horns on the electoral battleground again, in less than a year, in Karnataka as the stage is set for voting in the first phase in 14 Lok Sabha seats on Friday. It's going to be a straight fight between the ruling Congress and the BJP-JD(S) combine unlike the Assembly elections in May last year which witnessed a triangular contest among the three parties. The state has a total of 28 Lok Sabha constituencies. The second phase of polling in the remaining 14 seats is on May seven. A total of 247 candidates -- 226 men and 21 women -- are in the fray for the first phase in most of the southern and coastal districts. More than 2.88 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 30,602 polling stations where polling will take place between 7 am to 6 pm. While the Congress is contesting in all 14 seats, BJP has fielded nominees in 11 and its alliance partner JD(S), which joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in three -- Hassan, Mandya and ..

Crammed into a tiny room and learning for about five to six hours may not be what children look forward to. But it's obvious that the seven-odd children, aged between 3 and 10, are really happy to be sitting inside the spanking new anganwadi at the Nagarhole Gadde Hadi, a settlement consisting of about 60 families of the Jenu Kuruba tribe in the forests of Nagarhole in Karnataka. The children are aware that it's a privilege that no one before them had enjoyed the anganwadi is the only pucca construction in that forest settlement. The 12x12 room suddenly popped up in July last year, after years of cajoling, possibly because the election is round the corner, said anganwadi worker J K Bhagya. "We even got a toilet. Before this we were operating from a shed," she added, pointing to a bamboo structure with a tarpaulin for the roof next door. These few and far between sops for votes' are the reason why the Jenu Kuruba community, which is fighting the government for decades for even the

BJP youth wing chief and current MP Tejasvi Surya, who is seeking re-election from the prestigious Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat, is facing a spirited challenge from Sowmya Reddy of the Congress. The 41-year-old Sowmya, daughter of Minister Ramalinga Reddy, is a former MLA from Jayanagar here and lost the Assembly elections last year by a mere 16 votes. Spread across eight Assembly constituencies, Bengaluru South has been a BJP bastion since 1991. In the 2023 Assembly elections, the BJP won five of them and Congress in three. In fact since 1977, Congress has won here only once when former Chief Minister late R Gundu Rao emerged victorious in the 1989 elections. A constituency with a significant Brahmin population, it had been represented mostly by members of the community. Hoping to turn the tide against the BJP, the ruling Congress in Karnataka has put all its might behind Sowmya with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar leaving no stone unturned to boost he

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday listed the BJP's unfulfilled promises of two crore jobs a year and doubling farmers' income, among others, and mocked the saffron party over its manifesto, saying its government has never fulfilled a promise, nor will it in the future. Siddaramaiah said there has to be a review of what the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has done in the past 10 years. "Have they (BJP) fulfilled what they had promised earlier? It has to be discussed. Did they give Rs 15 lakh (to every bank account holder)? Did they generate 2 crore jobs (per year)? Did they double farmers' income? Did they do Make in India? Did 'achhe din' (good days) come? Did prices of all food products and essential commodities come down?" Siddaramaiah asked in response to a question about the BJP manifesto, while speaking to reporters here. The BJP-led government has never fulfilled any promises and they will not fulfill in the future too, he said. "They (BJP) may promi

The BJP has slammed Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for his comments on the demolition of some houses allegedly built illegally and belonging to Kannadigas in Goa and said he should first work to solve problems in his own state. Bharatiya Janata Party's Goa spokesperson Giriraj Pai Vernekar told PTI on Sunday that the demolition drive was carried out following a directive of the Supreme Court. A total of 22 houses built illegally on land owned by the local communidade (community institution) at Sangolda village in North Goa district were demolished by the authorities on Friday and Saturday. Siddaramaiah in a post on X on Sunday said, "Deeply concerned by the demolition of homes belonging to Kannadigas in Sangolda, Goa. I appeal to the Chief Minister of Goa, Shri Dr Pramod Sawant, to cease further demolitions immediately until alternatives are provided, and ensure all displaced individuals receive adequate rehabilitation." He shared the media reports and pictures of the ...

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The Enforcement Directorate has written to the Karnataka governor and the Lokayukta seeking registration of an FIR and independent probe into "systematic rigging" of a 2023 recruitment process in the Kolar-Chikkaballapur District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited (KOMUL) led by a Congress MLA under investigation in a money laundering case. Official sources told PTI that the alleged 'cash-for-jobs' racket was unearthed by the federal agency during searches conducted by it in January against K Y Nanjegowda, a Congress MLA from Malur seat in Kolar district, and his associates. They were raided as part of a money laundering investigation into an alleged illegal allotment of government land worth Rs 150 crore to ineligible persons. The alleged recruitment scam pertains to September, 2023 when KOMUL announced hiring for 81 positions through a written test conducted by the Mangalore University. The recruitment process, as per the ED, comprised a written test (85 per cent weightage)

In a battle involving the 'royal' and the 'ordinary', the voters of Mysuru are faced with a dilemma of choosing between BJP's Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar and Congress's M Lakshmana in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. While Wadiyar, the scion of the erstwhile Mysuru royal family is making his political debut from the Mysore Lok Sabha segment, Lakshmana is state Congress spokesperson and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's confidant. It's no secret that Siddaramaiah has chosen to focus on this constituency given the number of his visits and campaign meetings in the region. "Voting for Lakshmana is like voting for me. His victory means my victory," says Siddaramaiah, who represents Varuna Assembly segment in the district. The Congress has also chosen to play the caste card, highlighting that Lakshmana is a Vokkaliga, the agrarian community that dominates the region. "National issues do matter but we have to think locally as well," Raju Gowda, a farmer, sitting at an 'Ashwatha Katt

The BJP top brass' decision regarding the Mandya Lok Sabha seat is keenly awaited with party-backed sitting Independent MP Sumalatha Ambareesh and its alliance partner JD(S) both making a strong pitch for the ticket. While JD(S) has conveyed to the BJP leadership that it wants to field its candidate, multilingual actress-turned-politician Sumalatha has also thrown her hat in the ring and wants to contest on a ticket from the national party. JD(S) is firm on this seat--which is located between Bengaluru and Mysuru-- as the constituency is dominated by Vokkaligas, the community that forms its strong voter base. The party headed by former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda has already conducted multiple rounds of meetings under its state President H D Kumaraswamy to decide on the candidate. Incidentally in 2019, Sumalatha had defeated the then Chief Minister Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil, the joint candidate of Congress-JD(S) alliance in Mandya, known in Kannada as 'Sakkare Naadu' (land of ...

Speaking about this in the House, Health Minister Dinesh Gundurao warned that cigarettes cannot be sold to people under the age of 21 years from now on

Karnataka Congress chief D K Shivakumar on Tuesday dismissed as false and speculation some media reports which claimed that former party President Sonia Gandhi may be offered a Rajya Sabha seat from the State, and clarified that no such discussions have taken place. There have been reports in a section of media that Sonia Gandhi may not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, and she may be given a Rajya Sabha seat from Karnataka. "All such information is false, no such discussions have happened. You (media) are writing such speculations, no such discussions have happened," Shivakumar, also the Deputy Chief Minister, said in response to a question on such reports. Sonia Gandhi had won the1999 Lok Sabha elections from Ballari in Karnataka, defeating veteran BJP leader late Sushma Swaraj. Meanwhile, Shivakumar hit out at BJP and JD(S) for the row over removal of Hanuman flag flying from the 108-ft flagstaff at Keragodu village in Mandya district. Such things are being done to create