68.62 % polling recorded in 2 phases in Karnataka, turnout higher than in 2014
Bengaluru: A 68.62 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the elections for 28 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka which went for polling in two phases, a tad higher thanthe 2014 figures, poll officials said Wednesday.
Voter turnout was 67.20 per cent in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
While 14 constituencies in the southern belt which went to polls in the first phase on April 18 recorded 68.80 per cent polling, the remaining 14 constituencies in thenorthern districts where elections were held in the second phase on Tuesday saw a 68.43 per cent turnout.
According to data released by poll officials, the highest voter turnout combining both the phases was in Mandya with 80.23 per cent, while the least was in Bangalore South with 53.47 per cent.
Both Mandya and Bangalore South are high profile constituencies which went to polls in the first phase.
In Mandya, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil is pitted against actress Sumalatha Ambareesh in what is perceived to be a cliffhanger contest.
In Bangalore South, the contest is between 28-year-old Tejasvi Surya, a new face from the BJP and senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad.
Of the total electors of 5,10,55,172 in the state, 3,50,31,495 voters have exercised franchise in twophases.
There were 478 candidates in the fray from two phases--451 men and 27 women. The BJP had contested in 27 out of total 28 seats in theState, and supported independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh in Mandya.
The Congress and JD(S), which fought the polls in alliance, had contested in 21 and 7 seven seats respectively.
During 2014 Lok Sabha polls, of the 28 constituencies that went to the polls, BJPhad won in 17, Congress in 9 and JD(S) in two seats. However, during the bypoll in November last year BJP had lost Bellary seat to Congress.
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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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