Polling underway in two Assembly seats in Karnataka

News Network

November 3, 2020

Bengaluru, Nov 3: Voting began on a peaceful note in two of the Karnataka Assembly seats, including the high profile Rajarajeshwarinagar seat, on Tuesday morning.

Chief polling officer for the Rajarajeshwari Nagar (RR Nagar) and the BBMP commissioner Manjunath Prasad said that except few cases of EVM's malfunctioning, the voting is being held in the constituency without any snarl.

According to State election commission sources, the polling n Sira Assembly seat also began on a peaceful note and no untoward incident was reported.

It may be recalled that in both the constituencies, all the three principal political parties including the ruling BJP, and the Opposition Congress and the JD(S) candidates are locking horns to win the seats.

While BJP had fielded former MLA, Munirathna Naidu as its candidate for the R R Nagar Assembly seat, it had chosen Rajesh Gowda, a new entrant to the Saffron party to the Sira Assembly seat, the Congress had fielded Kusuma and former minister t B Jayachandra as its nominee for the R R Nagar and Sira seats, respectively.

The JD(S) has fielded Krishnamurthy for the RR Nagar and Ms Malajamma, the widow of the diseased party MLA, Sathyanarayana for the Sira Assembly seat.

Counting of votes would be taken on November 10.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

Mangaluru–Kasaragod bus fare rolled back after Kerala protests force NHAI to shut Arikkady toll plaza

coastaldigest.com news network

February 5,2026

Mangaluru: The KSRTC Mangaluru division has rolled back the fare hike on buses operating on the Mangaluru–Kasaragod route following the suspension of toll collection at the Arikkady toll plaza near Kumbala in Kasaragod district.

The fare revision had been implemented after the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) began toll collection at the Arikkady plaza on NH-66. As a result, fares for ordinary and Rajahamsa services were increased by ₹7 and ₹10, respectively, raising the bus fare from Mangaluru to Kasaragod from ₹81 to ₹88.

Senior Divisional Controller of KSRTC’s Mangaluru division, Rajesh Shetty, said the fares were reduced after toll collection at the Arikkady plaza was stopped. “The tollgate began operations on January 13, and the toll amount was deducted from the FASTag accounts of KSRTC buses operating on the route. Following an order from the central government to suspend toll collection, KSRTC has also withdrawn the additional fare with immediate effect,” he said.

At present, vehicles travelling on the Mangaluru–Kasaragod route pay toll only at the Talapady toll plaza. The toll for light motor vehicles (LMVs) at Talapady is ₹80 for a same-day return, while heavy vehicles, including buses, are charged ₹250. At Arikkady, the toll rates were ₹130 for LMVs (same-day return) and ₹450 for buses.

Protests against Arikkady toll plaza

The Arikkady toll plaza witnessed widespread protests from January 12, the day toll collection commenced. On the second day, an action committee led by Manjeshwar MLA A K M Ashraf launched an indefinite protest at the site. Except for the BJP, leaders and workers of most major political parties participated in the agitation.

On the night of January 14, a large number of protesters gathered at the plaza and vandalised property, following which authorities temporarily suspended toll operations. The BJP later also expressed opposition to the toll plaza and criticised NHAI’s decision.

Comments