When Karnataka suffering from flood BSY govt focusing on phone tapping: Deve Gowda

Mangaluru, May 6: A five-year-old girl from Arendur village of Siddapura taluk of Uttara Kannada district died of Kyasanur Forest Disease (monkey fever) recently.

As her health deteriorated, she was admitted to the KMC Hospital in Mangaluru, where she failed to respond to the treatment and died on Friday night.

It is learned that the KFD is slowly spreading to the newer areas of coastal and malnad areas of Karnataka

According to officials, KFD spreads due to bites of ticks that generally survive on monkeys. This tick bites humans which causes the infection. Humans also contract the disease by coming in contact with cattle bitten by ticks.

Mangaluru/Udupi: The Dakshina Kannada and Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituencies recorded a tentative voter turnout of 77.4% and 76.1% respectively until 6 pm on Friday. In the 2019 polls, Dakshina Kannada recorded 77.9%, while Udupi recorded a 75.8% voter turnout.

The DK Lok Sabha constituency recorded a poll percentage of 71.8% at 5 pm. Among the constituencies, Sullia recorded a maximum of 78.4%, followed by Belthangady at 75.6%, Puttur at 75.2%, Bantwal at 73.7%, Mangalore at 73.5%, Mangalore City North at 69.8%, and Mangalore City South at 61.8%.

Urban apathy continued, with Mangalore City South recording the lowest polling percentage.

Meanwhile, Banjarumale, a remote village in Belthangady taluk, recorded 100% polling with all 111 voters showing up two hours before polling ended at 6pm.

Another interior polling station at Elaneer in the same taluk recorded 82% polling at 4 pm. The booth has 471 voters. The district has a total of 18,18,127 voters, with 9,30,928 females, 8,87,122 men, and 77 transgender individuals.

A good number of people turned out to vote during the early hours. Voters are bearing the scorching sun while stepping out to exercise their franchise as heat wave is sweeping through the state. 

The polling process remained largely peaceful, with long queues observed at polling stations from 7 am onwards in several polling stations. However, technical glitches caused delays at a polling station in Karopady, and at St. Xavier School Bejai, where polling was reportedly delayed by nearly two hours.

Polling staff at a booth near the Mulki police station mistakenly marked the wrong finger with ink during voting. They reportedly applied ink to the index finger of the right hand. According to sources, at least 50 individuals had their index finger of the right hand inked. Deputy Commissioner Mullai Mulihan clarified, "The matter was promptly addressed by the sector office. This error affected 8-9 voters"

A total of 18.18 lakh voters in the Dakshina Kannada Lok Sabha constituency and 15.85 lakh in Udupi-Chikmagalur hold the power to determine the fate of candidates competing for their respective segments. The polling process is currently underway across 1,876 booths in Dakshina Kannada and 1,842 polling stations in the Udupi-Chikmagalur segment.

In Dakshina Kannada, a closely contested battle is anticipated between Captain Brijesh Chowta representing the BJP and Padmaraj R Poojary from the Congress. Meanwhile, in the Udupi-Chikmagalur constituency, Kota Shrinivas Poojary of the BJP and K Jayaprakash Hegde of the Congress are the prominent contenders.

Guwahati: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday condemned the alleged sexual abuse of women involving Lok Sabha MP Prajwal Revanna, asserting that the BJP will not tolerate any insult to women.

Revanna (33) is the BJP-JD(S) alliance candidate for Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, which went to polls on April 26.

Earlier in the day, the JD(S) suspended Revanna from the party with immediate effect.

“The issue regarding Revanna that has been reported in the media is very hurtful and cannot be tolerated in any way,” Shah told a press conference here.

“The BJP’s stand is very clear; we will not tolerate any insult to ‘matri aur nari shakti’ (women empowerment),” he asserted.

Some explicit video clips allegedly involving Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, were circulated in Hassan over the last few days.

The home minister said Congress has been alleging that an NDA partner’s candidate is involved in the incident, “but I just want to ask a small question - whose government is there in that state (Karnataka)?”

“The Congress is in power in Karnataka, and this matter must have come to their attention. Why has it not taken any action on it so far? We cannot take any action as law and order is a state issue,” Shah said.