Bike rider meets with death in accident

Mangaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party has retained Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency for the ninth consecutive term with Capt Brijesh Chowta winning the segment by a margin of 1,49,208 votes.

Capt Brijesh Chowta secured 7,64,132 (53.97%) votes and Congress candidate Padmaraj R Poojary secured 6,14,924 (43.43%) votes. Captain Brijesh Chowta was leading with 8,514 votes in the first round of counting and maintained the lead in all the rounds of counting.

The vote share of other candidates are Kanthappa Alangar (Bahujan Samaj Party 4232 votes (0.3%), Durga Prasad (Karunada Sevakara Paksha 2592 (0.18%), independent candidates Supreeth Kumar Poojary Kateel (1901 votes( 0.13%), Maxim Pinto (1690 votes (0.12%), Deepak Rajesh Coelho (976 votes 0.07%), Prajakeeya Manohara (Uttama Prajaakeeya Party 971 (0.07%) and Ranjini M (Karnataka Rashtra Samithi 776 (0.05%).

Speaking after the victory, Capt Brijesh Chowta said "this is the victory of party workers and Hindutva."

Reiterating his commitment to Hindutva and development, he said “I will work for the comprehensive development of the district. Dakshina Kannada is the land of truth, faith,  and justice. “I consider this as a victory of faith, truth and justice. I will seek  the guidance of party leaders and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the development of the district.

The results has proved that DK is a strong forte of the BJP. “We were more cautious as the Congress and SDPI had come together in the election. It has also proved that the people of the district support development and do not support those engage in dividing the minds.

“I will work towards the nine focus areas that I had mentioned it in my manifesto —Nava yuga nava patha. I will work towards fulfilling the aspirations and dreams of the people in the district,” he added.

To a query on election on the basis of castes, he said “BJP did not seek vote on the basis of caste. We had discussed on Hindutva, social justice, poverty and uplifting the poor. We faced the election on the basis of nationalism,” he clarified.

On decline in the margin, he said," Congress and SDPI had worked together in the election. The party will introspect on the reason for decline in the margin.” Thanking the BJP workers, he said amid scorching sun the party workers have worked for the victory of the BJP.

DK district BJP president Sathish Kumpala said that the party workers and leaders had joined hands and worked continuously during the election campaign.

“The enlightened voters of Dakshina Kannada have given a major contribution to the party by electing our candidate again. As the district president of the party, I extend my sincere thank to all voters as well as party workers. We have a major challenge ahead as an organization. The newly elected MP will work for strengthening the party and also take up development works for the district.”

Inspite of SDPI, CPM, Congress coming together, the voters have given us clear mandate, he said.

The BJP has been winning the DK constituency since 1991. After 1991, the constituency was retained by the BJP with Dhananjay Kumar winning four consecutive terms in 1991, 1996, 1998 and 1999. Later, DV Sadananda Gowda won in 2004 and Nalin Kumar Kateel won hat trick from 2008 till 2019.

In the 2019 election, the vote share of Nalin Kumar Kateel stood at 57.57 per cent (7,74,285 votes) and Mithun Rai of Congress secured 4,99,664 votes (37.15 per cent). In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP’s vote share stood at 53.23 against 41.33 per cent of the Congress. In 2009 election, it was 49.16 per cent for BJP against 45.18 per cent of the Congress.

Capt Chowta managed bag a huge share of postal ballots . Out of 8,773 postal ballots in the constituency, Capt Chowta secured 4,002 votes while 2,821 votes were polled in favour of Poojary. Meanwhile, 1,741 postal ballots were rejected in the constituency.

Mangaluru: Tamil Nadu surfers swept the top honors in all four categories, men’s open, women’s open, groms boys & U-16 and groms girls & U-16, at the Indian Open of Surfing at the Sasihithlu beach.

Ajeesh Ali, who competed in the Paris Olympics qualifiers (2023 ISA World Surfing Games, El Salvador) last year, was crowned the new IOS champion in the men’s open category.

Teenage sensation Kamali Moorthi completed a double victory by winning both the women’s open and groms girls & U-16 categories, successfully defending her titles.

Another Tamil Nadu teenager, Tayin Arun, impressed the judges with his maneuvers and was crowned the new IOS champion in the groms boys & U-16 category.

The final day's action began with the semi-finals of the groms boys and U-16 category. Local favorite Pradeep Pujar led the pack with a score of 8.80, advancing to the finals alongside Prahlad Sriram (8.50), Harish P (8.26), and Tayin Arun (6.76).

Speaking on the surfing conditions today, Dylan Amar from Indonesia, who was the head judge at Indian Open of Surfing, said, “The conditions today were excellent, making this venue highly competitive. Over the three days, the athletes put on an impressive show. If they maintain this level of effort, Indian surfers could soon make it to the Olympics."

The action then moved to the semi-finals of the groms girls and U-16 category. Tamil Nadu surfers Dhamayanthi Sriram and Mahathi Srinivasabharathi qualified for the finals with scores of 4.57 and 3.54 respectively. Kamali Moorthi, the top seed from Tamil Nadu, had already been granted a final spot based on her national ranking.

The finals of the groms boys and U-16 category saw Tayin Arun impressing the judges with his acrobatics, winning his first title at IOS with a score of 10.17. Harish P (8.40) and Prahlad Sriram (7.47) made it a thrilling competition, finishing second and third, respectively. Mantra Surf Club's Pradeep Pujar finished fourth with a score of 5.34.

Speaking after winning his first-ever IOS title, Tayin Arun expressed his joy, "I’m really happy to win the title today as it is my first IOS title, and the conditions were really good for surfing. I enjoyed surfing today, and I’m looking forward to winning more titles in the future. I missed Kishore Kumar as he is my best friend, and I would like to beat him as well."

The final day also featured the groms girls and U-16 finals, an all-Tamil Nadu affair. Kamali Moorthi emerged victorious with a commanding score of 12.17, securing the title by a wide margin. Dhamayanthi Sriram (5.93) and Mahathi Srinivasabharathi (2.07) finished second and third, respectively.

The highlight event of the day was the men’s open surfing final, another all Tamil Nadu affair, featuring the top-seeded surfers from across the country. Ajeesh Ali, who represented India at the 2023 ISA World Surfing Games in El Salvador, walked away with the championship title with the highest score of the day (14.70). The intense action and thrilling competition in the category captivated the audience.

Srikanth D (12.57) and Sanjaikumar S (11.10) took the runner-up and second runner-up titles, respectively, while Sanjay Selvamani came in fourth with a score of 6.17.

Speaking after winning the IOS title in surfing men’s open category, Ajeesh Ali said, “I am thrilled to have won the title today after being the runner-up in the previous edition. Winning the Indian Open of Surfing was something I desperately wanted.

"My experience in El Salvador last year for the Paris Olympics qualifiers allowed me to compete with some of the world’s best surfers and learn a great deal from them. The conditions today were challenging with slow waves, but luckily, I had a board specifically for such conditions. The competition was fierce, as my fellow surfers are among the best in the country."

The women’s open surf category finals concluded the event with fierce competition among India’s leading female surfers. Kamali Moorthi emerged victorious, winning the IOS women’s championship title in a thrilling final.

Kamali scored 12.40 in the finals, narrowly edging out 2022 champion Sugar Banarse from Goa, who scored 12.23 and finished as the runner-up by just 0.17 points. Neha Vaid from Mumbai came in third with a score of 2.97.

Speaking post winning the double titles at IOS, Kamali said, "I am thrilled to have successfully defended both my titles at the Indian Open of Surfing. Surfing in Mangaluru is always a joy, and today was no different. The women’s open category was challenging because I was competing against Sugar Banarse, the 2022 champion. Despite this, I managed to stay calm and not let the pressure get to me before the finals." 

Bengaluru: Women in Karnataka have availed themselves of 227 crore free rides in government non-luxury buses under the "Shakti" guarantee in the last one year, costing the state exchequer Rs 5,526.64 crore, Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy said on Tuesday.

The Congress government, led by Siddaramaiah, launched the "Shakti" scheme one of the five guarantees which the party had promised before the Assembly elections on June 11 last year.

These promises are said to have yielded rich electoral dividends to the Congress, helping it dethrone the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government.

As the government celebrates one year of "Shakti" guarantee implementation, Reddy said in a statement that 226.95 women travelled free of cost in the government buses.

Most such rides were accounted for by the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation buses (BMTC-71.45 crore), followed by Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC-69.5 crore).

North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) and Kalyana Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (KKRTC) posted 52.12 crore and 33.47 crore free rides, respectively.

KSRTC incurred an expenditure of Rs 2,111.14 crore, NWKRTC Rs 1,352.68 crore, KKRTC Rs 1,125.81 crore and BMTC Rs 937.01 crore, the statement said.

Reddy said several measures have been taken to improve the public transport system such as approval for the induction of 5,800 new buses. In addition, 2,438 new buses have been inducted across the four transport corporations in recent times.

According to the minister, the state inducted new buses with brand name Pallakki, Ashwamedha Classic, Kalyana Ratha and Amogha Varsha.

Approval has been accorded for recruitment of 9,000 posts in the department. In this regard, appointment orders have been issued to recruit 1,844 driver-cum-conductors and technical assistants, Reddy said.

"Recruitment for 6,500 posts (KSRTC- 2,500 driver-cum-conductors, BMTC-2,000 conductors, NWKRTC -1,000 drivers and 1,000 conductors) is under process and will be completed soon," the minister said.

The government has also enhanced accident relief compensation from Rs three lakh to Rs 10 lakh to dependents in case of death of any passenger in an accident while travelling in bus operated by state-run corporations, he added.