Demand for Muslim candidate in Bhatkal constituency gains pace on social media ahead of K'taka polls
Bhatkal: With over 55 thousand votes, the Muslims in the Bhatkal-Honnavar Constituency have lately been raising demands of fielding a Muslim candidate in the constituency. WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages have been created to garner support for demanding a Muslim candidate among the locals.
The general perception among the Muslim youngsters in Bhatkal is that the community has not been able to groom even a single Muslim political leader for over forty years now after the late Jukaku Shamsuddin and SM Yahya. The debates on social media have also revolved around how the secular parties have exploited the Muslim votes in the region but have never allowed a Muslim candidate to contest the assembly elections.
The majority of the members of the WhatsApp groups that have been created to discuss the issue ahead of the local socio-political organization Majlis-e-Islah wa Tanzeem extend support to any of the candidates in the fray, collectively opine that even if it means losing the election, the Tanzeem should support a Muslim candidate and put a show of the strength and significance of its votes.
The Muslim community in the constituency has 55,000 votes, second only to the Namdhari community which has over 65,000 voters. The majority of the political parties have traditionally preferred Namdhari candidates or other candidates over Muslims to contest on their tickets.
Majlis-e-Islah wa Tanzeem in 2013, supported JD(s) leader Inayathullah Shabandri in the 2013 assembly elections. Shabandri secured the second position in the elections and polled over 27 thousand votes against the 37,319 votes polled by independent candidate Mankal Vaidya who won the election that year.
In 2018, Mankal Vaidya contested the election on a Congress ticket backed by Tanzeem and lost the election to Sunil Naik of the BJP. Shabandri, who is now the president of Majlis-e-Islah wa Tanzeem, had to withdraw his candidature after failing to secure Tanzeem’s support for the election.
With the 2023 assembly polls in sight, the locals are upping their demands to support a Muslim candidate. While some are against these demands and believe fielding a Muslim candidate will ensure the victory of the BJP, the number of people bolding the gamble to field a Muslim candidate is higher.
With Election Commission expected to announce the dates of the election later this month, it will be interesting to see how these demands of locals influence political parties.
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Karnataka procured 16 lakh expired RT-PCR kits during Covid wave: D’Cunha commission
Bengaluru: Justice John Michael D’Cunha’s committee has uncovered significant irregularities in the procurement of medical supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic, revealing that more than 16 lakh RT-PCR test kits purchased by Karnataka in 2022 under the BJP-led government were either expired or close to their expiry dates.
After irregularities in PPE kit purchases, ventilators have also come under the scanner, with the report highlighting discrepancies amounting to Rs 173.26 crore in purchases made by the Medical Education Department.
The commission has also found that the Karnataka State Medical Supplies Corporation Ltd. (KSMSCL) that cancelled a supply order for one lakh Rapid Antigen (RAT) kits placed with a Singapore-based company in March 2020 — for delay in supplying — has not recovered the Rs 6.99 crore paid to the company towards the order, as reported by The Hindu on Thursday.
According to the 279-page report on procurements made by the KSMSCL that is compiled in part IV of the report, a payment of Rs 148.84 crore was made by KSMSCL to various suppliers and firms towards procurement of RT-PCR kits from 2020 to 2022.
The Commission’s report, as cited by the publication, stated that there were records indicating procurement of RT-PCR kits, RNA extraction kits and Viral transport media (VTM) of a total value of Rs 106.25 crore during the pandemic in Karnataka. However, according to the report, this procurement was made without administrative approval.
“Since the KSMSCL has failed to discharge its obligation and responsibility, the loss caused to the State exchequer to this extent is required to be replenished by the erring officers and/or officials of the KSMSCL as well as the officers and/or officials of the consignee designated laboratories who received the consignment,” the report said, pegging the losses due to expired kits supplied by companies at Rs 3.11 crore.
In response to the report’s findings, state Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao criticised the saffron party for profiting from the pandemic. He promised accountability for the irregularities involving PPE kits and ventilators, stating that those responsible would face punishment.
