49 Candidates with Criminal Record in Fray in II Phase

BANGALORE: The second phase of Assembly Elections in Karnataka on May 16 will witness 49 candidates with criminal records contesting across 66 Assembly segments.

The BJP leads the list with 13 candidates, followed by the Congress -9, JD(S) -8, BSP -7 and others -12. Of these, six have been charged with murder or attempt to murder, with the BJP accounting for three and the JD(S), BSP and JD(U), one each.

The Karnataka Election Watch Committee, based on a study of the affidavits submitted by candidates during filing of nominations, revealed these findings on Sunday.

Releasing the report, Trilochan Sastry of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, said that the longterm strategy of the Committee is to pressure political parties to field clean candidates.

Crorepatis in the fray

The financial assets of candidates in general, has also seen a tremendous increase. Five candidates, two from the BJP and three from the Congress, have declared assets of over Rs 30 crore, coming under the ‘Very High’ category.

Bellary City constituency candidate Anil H Lad tops the list with assets worth Rs 172.72 crore, followed by Haliyal candidate R V Deshpande with Rs 116.29 crore. The list is rounded off with Vijayanagara candidate Anand Singh (Rs 74.56 crore), Davangere South candidate S Shivashankarappa (Rs 50.15 crore) and Harappanahalli candidate G Karunakara Reddy (Rs 34.06 crore).

Under the ‘High Assets’ category (Rs 5 crore to Rs 30 crore), there are 17 candidates contesting the second phase. A total of 46 candidates have declared very low assets of Rs 1 lakh or less. The total assets declared by all 372 candidates is Rs 902 crore, with average candidate assets of Rs 2.42 crore.

The Congress leads the list with total declared candidate assets of Rs 470 crore and average candidate assets of Rs 7.35 crore.

The BJP had total assets of Rs 249.8 crore and an average of Rs 3.78 crore and the JD(S) Rs 77.9 crore and Rs 1.28 crore.

source: New Indian Express

Karnataka: 60% Turnout in First Phase of Polls

NEW DELHI: An estimated 60 per cent of the nearly 1.73 crore voters on Saturday exercised their franchise in the crucial first phase of Assembly elections in 89 of the 224 constituencies of Karnataka. (Watch)

"Polling was peaceful and there were no reports of any untoward incident like booth capture or violence from anywhere in the state," Deputy Chief Election Commissioner R Bhattacharya told reporters here.

Full Story: TOI

First Phase: Peaceful Polling in Karnataka

BANGALORE: About 15 per cent of an estimated 1.73 crore electorate exercised their franchise till 10 am on Saturday in the 89 constituencies where polling is underway for the first phase of Assembly elections in Karnataka.

The poll process started without any trouble and no untoward incident had been reported, according to information reaching the police headquarters here.

Around 20 persons who were moving in a suspicious manner in Hebbal Assembly segment in the city were being questioned, police said.

Read more: Karnataka Polls

Are we a good host to our guests?

Atithi Devo Bhava! This is what India is known for; giving warm hospitality to her guests/visitors. But the scenario is not same. We cannot even encourage guests not more than a day or two in our homes due to growing socio-economical problems.

But the government is not suffering from any such problem, except with ‘Minorities’ syndrome’. That is why the UPA govt has grown insensitive towards Taslima Nasreen’s issue. It's true that a guest should behave like a guest. But everyone knows that the author has not done anything to threaten the integrity of her adopted nation. She might have hurt the sentiments of her people in her writings, but only a small group is upset about it.

That doesn’t mean that the spine-less government should go by the views of a few people and suffocate the writer. Then the yardstick should be same for MF Hussain too. The painter should not be allowed to enter into India for showing Hindu gods and goddesses in a bad light in his works. Instead of making the life of the acclaimed author miserable, the government should make the Muslim heads come for a talk to resolve the issue.

As the author has already tendered her apology, the clergy should accept it gracefully and allow the author to live freely in her favourite home Kolkata. It’s painful to read that Taslima has decided to leave India for some other country.

If that happens, we should remove the word Atithi Devo Bhava from the ancient relics and the Indian tourism department should immediately change its slogan as we are no more a hospitable host.