DK local authority constituency all set for polls; eight candidates in fray

December 13, 2015

Mangaluru, Dec 12: Dakshina Kannada local authority constituency is all set for Legislative Council elections to be held on December 27. With six candidates withdrawing their nominations on Saturday, the number of candidates in the constituency has come down to eight—four from recognized national and regional party and four independents.

The candidates are — Prakash Shetty from Thekkatte in Kundapura Taluk (JD-S), K. Prathapchandra Shetty from 75 Halady in Kundapura Taluk (Congress), Praveenchandra Jain from Padangady village in Belthangady Taluk (JD-S), Kota Srinivasa Poojary from Kotathattu village, Kundapura Taluk (BJP), and independents Alphons Pranco from Kuvettu village Belthangady Taluk, Ismail Doddamane from Manjanady village in Mangaluru Taluk, K. Jayaprakash Hegde from Koorgi village in Kundapura Taluk, and K. Harikrishna Bantwal from Amtadi village in Bantwal Taluk.

A total of 14 candidates had filed 24 sets of nominations for the two seats representing the constituency. However, Bhujanga Shetty (Independent), Shankar Kundar (Independent), Harish Kumar (Congress), Abdul Jaleel K (Independent) and Sanjeev Matandoor (BJP) withdrew their nominations.

The term of the MLCs elected from local bodies constituency of Dakshina Kannada – Kota Srinivas Poojary (BJP) and Prathapchandra Shetty (Congress) – will end on January 5.

The total number of voters in the constituency is 6,559, of which 3,191 are males and 3,368 are females. The constituency has 410 polling booths. The number of voters in Dakshina Kannada district is 3,844 and in Udupi district is 2,715. There are 166 polling booths in Udupi district and 244 polling booths in Dakshina Kannada district.

The election to the Council from Dakshina Kannada local authority constituency will be held on December 27 between 8 am and 4 pm. The counting of votes will take place on December 30.

Incidentally, Jayaprakash and Harikrishna have openly rejected overtures from CM Siddaramaiah and KPCC president G Parameshwara, and Janardhan Poojary who requested them in private and openly not to oppose the official party nominee Pratapchandra Shetty. The only demand put forth by the duo was that the party leadership reconsider decision to field Pratapchandra when the sitting MLC had indicated as early as November that he was not willing to recontest.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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