16 candidates file nominations for LS polls in state on 2nd day
Bengaluru, Mar 20: Sumalatha Ambareesh, wife of late actor-politician Ambareesh, is among 16 candidates who filed their nominations in Karnataka Wednesday for the Lok Sabha polls.
A total of 17 nominations have been received from 16 candidates on Wednesday, poll officials said, adding that cumulative nominations received stands at 28 from 22 candidates.
Nominations filed were two each from Tumkur, Mandya, Bangalore North, Bangalore central, three each from Bangalore Rural and Mysore, and one each from Bangalore south and Chikkaballapur.
With all the three major political parties, the BJP, Congress and JD(S), yet to announce their list of candidates, those who filed nominations on Wednesday were mainly independents and from smaller parties.
Sumalatha filed her nomination as an independent candidate from Mandya, where she is likely to take on Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy as Congress-JD(S) coalition's candidate.
Sumalatha, a popular south Indian actress,visited the Chamundeshwari temple in Mysuru, ahead of filing nomination.
After filing the nomination, she travelled to a venue where a public meeting was organised in a procession in an open vehicle.
A large number of people, mainly Ambareesh's fans, irrespective of their party association, joined the procession.
She was accompanied by her actor son Abishek and personalities of Kannada film industry, including actors Darshan and Yash.
Some people, allegedly Congress workers, took part in the procession with party flag, despite the grand old party denying Sumalatha ticket and lending its support to alliance partner JD(S)' candidate Nikhil.
Addressing the gathering, Sumalatha, declaring that she was daughter-in-law of Mandya, sought support to carry forward her late husband's legacy and association with the people there.
She vowed to be the voice of the people of Mandya in Parliament.
Karnataka will go to the polls in two phases, 14 constituencies each, on April 18 and 23.
While the last date for the filing of nominations for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls is on March 26, scrutiny will take place on March 27, last date for withdrawal is March29.
For the second phase polls on April 23, notification will be issued on March 28.
The last date for nomination is April 4, scrutiny on April 5 and the last day for withdrawal is April 8.
Counting of votes and announcement of results for both phases is scheduled for May 23.
In the 2014 general election, the BJP had bagged 17, Congress 9 and JD(S) two seats.
However in the bypolls, the BJP had yielded the Bellary seat to Congress.
The Congress-JD(S) ruling coalition that has decided to fight the polls in alliance will contest 20 and 8 seats respectively.
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Single higher education regulator bill tabled in LS; Oppn flags ‘centralisation’, JPC likely
New Delhi: A bill to set up a 13-member body to regulate institutions of higher education was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan introduced the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to establish an overarching higher education commission along with three councils for regulation, accreditation, and ensuring academic standards for universities and higher education institutions in India.
Meanwhile, the move drew strong opposition, with members warning that it could weaken institutional autonomy and result in excessive centralisation of higher education in India.
The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, 2025, earlier known as the Higher Education Council of India (HECI) Bill, has been introduced in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
The proposed legislation seeks to merge three existing regulatory bodies, the University Grants Commission (UGC), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), and the National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), into a single unified body called the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan.
At present, the UGC regulates non-technical higher education institutions, the AICTE oversees technical education, and the NCTE governs teacher education in India.
Under the proposed framework, the new commission will function through three separate councils responsible for regulation, accreditation, and the maintenance of academic standards across universities and higher education institutions in the country.
According to the Bill, the present challenges faced by higher educational institutions due to the multiplicity of regulators having non-harmonised regulatory approval protocols will be done away with.
The higher education commission, which will be headed by a chairperson appointed by the President of India, will cover all central universities and colleges under it, institutes of national importance functioning under the administrative purview of the Ministry of Education, including IITs, NITs, IISc, IISERs, IIMs, and IIITs.
At present, IITs and IIMs are not regulated by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
Government to refer bill to JPC; Oppn slams it
The government has expressed its willingness to refer it to a joint committee after several members of the Lok Sabha expressed strong opposition to the Bill, stating that they were not given time to study its provisions.
Responding to the opposition, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the government intends to refer the Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed examination.
Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari warned that the Bill could result in “excessive centralisation” of higher education. He argued that the proposed law violates the constitutional division of legislative powers between the Union and the states.
According to him, the Bill goes beyond setting academic standards and intrudes into areas such as administration, affiliation, and the establishment and closure of university campuses. These matters, he said, fall under Entry 25 of the Concurrent List and Entry 32 of the State List, which cover the incorporation and regulation of state universities.
Tewari further stated that the Bill suffers from “excessive delegation of legislative power” to the proposed commission. He pointed out that crucial aspects such as accreditation frameworks, degree-granting powers, penalties, institutional autonomy, and even the supersession of institutions are left to be decided through rules, regulations, and executive directions. He argued that this amounts to a violation of established constitutional principles governing delegated legislation.
Under the Bill, the regulatory council will have the power to impose heavy penalties on higher education institutions for violating provisions of the Act or related rules. Penalties range from ₹10 lakh to ₹75 lakh for repeated violations, while establishing an institution without approval from the commission or the state government could attract a fine of up to ₹2 crore.
Concerns were also raised by members from southern states over the Hindi nomenclature of the Bill. N.K. Premachandran, an MP from the Revolutionary Socialist Party representing Kollam in Kerala, said even the name of the Bill was difficult to pronounce.
He pointed out that under Article 348 of the Constitution, the text of any Bill introduced in Parliament must be in English unless Parliament decides otherwise.
DMK MP T.M. Selvaganapathy also criticised the government for naming laws and schemes only in Hindi. He said the Constitution clearly mandates that the nomenclature of a Bill should be in English so that citizens across the country can understand its intent.
Congress MP S. Jothimani from Tamil Nadu’s Karur constituency described the Bill as another attempt to impose Hindi and termed it “an attack on federalism.”
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