Election Commission readies for vote count in Karnataka's 28 LS seats

Agencies
May 22, 2019

Bengaluru, May 22: The Election Commission (EC) has made elaborate arrangements, including three-tier security, for the counting of votes in Karnataka's 28 Lok Sabha seats from 8 a.m. on Thursday, an official said on Wednesday.

"Counting centres are in the district headquarters of each parliamentary seat across the state while three are in Bengaluru for each of its three constituencies - North, Central and South," the state's Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar told IANS.

Polling was held in two phases for 14 seats each on April 18 in the central and southern regions and on April 23 in the coastal and northern regions of the state.

Vote count for the two bye-elections held on May 19 in the Chincholi and Kundagol Assembly segments will also be held simultaneously in Kalaburagi and Dharwad districts' centres.

Of the 5.12 crore electorate in the 28 seats, 3.51 crore cast their votes, accounting for 68.61 per cent polling.

The highest voting percentage, 81.23, was recorded in Mandya, about 100 km southwest of Bengaluru, where South Indian multi-lingual film actress Sumalatha Ambareesh, an Independent supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Nikhil Gowda of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) are the main contestants.

The lowest voting percentage, 53.47, was recorded in Bangalore South where the BJP's Tejaswi Surya is pitted against Congress Rajya Sabha member B.K. Hari Prasad.

A total of 461 candidates, including women and Independents contested in the 28 seats, of which five are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC) and two for Scheduled Tribes (ST).

The SC seats are Bijapur, Gulbarga, Chitradurga, Chamarajanagar and Kolar and the ST seats are Bellary and Raichur.

"Postal ballots will be counted first in all the centres followed up votes cast in the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), connected to the VVPATs (Voters Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machines. We have received 98,606 postal ballots till May 20," said Kumar.

Of the total postal ballots, 25,768 are from service voters, 24,846 from special messengers at facilitation centres and 47,992 through post.

The counting in each constituency will be from its 7-8 assembly segments and 224 in all the 28 Lok Sabha seats across the state.

In all, there were 58,186 polling stations.

"With 14 tables in each counting centre, their total number are 3,224 in all 28 centres and votes will be counted in rounds, depending on the votes polled in each Assembly segment. There will be 18 rounds on average in each Lok Sabha seat and 4,215 rounds in total," said Kumar.

The 28 Returning Officers (ROs) in each constituency will be assisted by 258 Assistant Returning Officers (AROs), 180 additional AROs and 80 additional observers.

There are 3,682 counting supervisors, 3,707 counting assistants and 3,738 micro observers.

The 14 seats which went to the polls in the first phase are Udupi-Chikmagalur, Hassan, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga (SC), Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Chamarajnagar (SC), Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South, Chikkaballapur and Kolar (SC).

The 14 others where polling was held in the second phase are Chikkodi, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur (SC), Gulbarga (SC), Raichur (ST), Bidar, Koppal, Bellary (ST), Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davanagere and Shimoga.

Kumar, however, admitted that the results in each seat would be delayed by three to four hours in view of the Supreme Court directive to the EC to tally VVPAT slips with EVMs in five polling booths of each assembly segment of the parliamentary seat.

"Though trends will be available from 11 a.m. onwards, results will be declared after 3 p.m., as each counting round will take about 40 minutes," said Kumar.

There are 40 VVPATs in every Lok Sabha constituency in the state.

"In case of mismatch between votes in the controlling unit of the EVM and the VVPAT slips, the slip count of the latter will be counted," added Kumar.

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News Network
March 15,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 15: Work from home to using toilets in malls, residents of India's 'Silicon Valley' Bengaluru are exploring all options to combat the unprecedented water crisis. People across various neighbourhoods have been forced to order food from restaurants and take bath on alternate days due to the water scarcity.

Even those in high-rise apartments equipped with water harvesting systems now find themselves reliant on water tankers for basic needs, leading to stringent usage restrictions.

Eateries are mulling over use of disposable cups, glasses and plates to avoid excess use of water.

Educational institutions are also feeling the pinch. Recently, a coaching centre in the city asked its students to attend classes online due to an 'emergency' for a week. Similarly, a school on Bannerghatta Road was also closed, asking students to attend classes online just like they did during the Covid pandemic.

Residents have come with up new methods to try and conserve water. With temperature rising, it is difficult to avoid a daily shower but they are left with no option but to take bath on alternative days, said Sujatha, a resident of KR Puram.

"What to do? Clean vessels, cook food, wash clothes....so, we have started using paper plates, that way we have cut down on our water usage. And we order food twice a week. We are using the washing machine only once in a week now," she said.

Some others have resorted to visiting a mall to take a shower or use the toilet facilities.

Lakshmi V, an IT professional living in Singasandra, has been requesting her firm to allow WFH option so that she and her family can temporarily shift to her native place in Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu until the situation becomes better.

"If the situation persists, we are thinking of seeking a work from home option. We are planning to move to our native place in Tamil Nadu temporarily till rain arrives here," she said.

Bengaluru primarily gets its water supply from two sources - Cauvery river and groundwater. For most non-drinking uses, recycled water processed by sewage treatment plants is used. With no rain for a while now, the primary sources have been stretched to their limits. Bengaluru needs 2,600-2,800 million litres of water daily, and the current supply is half of what's required. The result is a daily struggle for the city's residents.

The brunt is also being borne by people living in the outskirts of Bengaluru, especially in 110 villages that were merged with the city in 2007.

The crisis has also turned into a political battle between the state's ruling Congress government and the opposition BJP with Lok Sabha just weeks away. While the BJP has held several protests blaming the government, the Congress has accused the BJP-ruled federal government of not providing financial assistance to drought-hit Karnataka.

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News Network
March 28,2024

Mangaluru, Mar 28: Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Mullai Muhilan MP has warned the individuals and political parties against the poll code violations during private events. 
 
“Private events such as marriages, birthdays, housewarming ceremonies, and other non-political programmes do not require any permission. However, one should ensure that there is no violation of the model code of conduct (MCC) at these functions. Permission is needed if the events are attended by politicians or candidates,” the DC said. 

He said that these gatherings will be under the surveillance of MCC teams, as there are chances of luring voters by campaigning and supplying food, said the DC. The district has 38,386 new voters, of which, 19,619 are men.

He said that the notification of election in Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency will be issued soon, and the filing of nominations will be held between 11 am and 3 pm till April 4. 

Only five persons, including the candidate, will be allowed to enter the returning officer’s chamber to submit the nominations. A facilitation centre will be opened at the DC’s office. 

The expenditure of the candidate will be counted from the day the candidate files the nomination.

The DC said that the district is not an expenditure-sensitive constituency. Assistant expenditure observers and expenditure observers will monitor the expenditure of the candidates. An expenditure book will be provided to the candidate to record expenditure incurred, he explained.

Further, he said that no election materials can be printed without the name and address of the publishers, and the number of copies printed. Separate permission should be availed for procession prior to the submission of nomination papers from the ARO office, through the single-window system.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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Gokarna (Uttara Kannada): Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday said the Congress will decide about making him the Chief Minister in future, bringing to the fore again the issue of leadership change.

There was stiff competition between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar for the Chief Minister's post after the Assembly election results in May last year, and the Congress had managed to convince the latter and made him the Deputy Chief Minister.

There were some reports at the time that a compromise had been reached based on a "rotational Chief Minister formula," according to which Shivakumar will become CM after two-and-half years but they have not been officially confirmed by the party.

During a temple visit here, a priest prayed that God's blessings may be showered on Shivakumar, and he became the Chief Minister.

Speaking to reporters here in Uttara Kannada district, Shivakumar, who has in the past made no secret of his ambition to become Chief Minister, amid speculations of change in guard mid-way of the Assembly term, responded to talk in some political circles about the leadership issue.

"What's wrong if a priest expresses his desire before God while praying? The priest has expressed his desire. Now Siddaramaiah is the Chief Minister, I'm working as Deputy Chief Minister under him, also as party's state President. People speak about it and desiring it (Shivakumar should become CM) is a different matter, it will be decided by our party," Shivakumar said.

"Now we are all working under the leadership of Siddaramaiah, and our desire is that the state should progress further under his leadership," he said.

"There will be people including supporters and priests, who pray for us, they will express their opinion. Can we stop them from doing it? At the temple it is between God and his disciple, they have expressed their feelings to God," Shivakumar added. 

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