Congress Wins 3 RS Seats in Karnataka, BJP Bags 1
Bengaluru: The ruling Congress in Karnataka bagged three Rajya Sabha seats and BJP one in the biennial election, amid a boycott of the poll by the JDS, alleging electoral malpractice.
Congress' Dr L Hanumanthaiah, Dr Syed Naseer Hussain and G C Chandrasekhar, and also BJP's Rajeev Chandrashekar were declared elected after a complaint by the JDS to the Election Commission caused delay in taking up counting of votes.
With its strength in the Assembly, the Congress was sure of winning two seats and eyed the third seat and won it with the support of JDS rebels and independents.
The fight was for the third seat between the third candidate of the Congress' Chandrasekhar and JDS' B M Farooq, with the ruling party pulling off a bonus victory.
JDS has 37 MLAs, falling short of the required 44 votes by 14, with its seven rebels plumping for the Congress. Businessman Rajeev Chandrasekhar secured 50 votes, six more than required, with the support from smaller parties and independents.
Congress' Chandrasekhar received 46 votes, Hanumanthaiah 44 and Hussain 42.
Two votes were declared invalid and two rejected. Taking cognisance of a complaint by JDS, the Election Commission directed the Returning Offficer M S Kumaraswamy to reject two votes cast by Congress MLAs and seggregate them before taking up counting as EC found violation of procedures under the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
JDS boycotted the polls midway alleging electoral malpractice and collusion of the returning officer with the Congress.
Rejecting the charge, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said: "It appears they (JDS) are desperate...they havetried everything.. they had gone to the court (on seven rebel JDS MLA issue), they failed in the court, and desperately they are making these allegations."
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Air India, Air India Express to levy fuel surcharge on tickets; airfares to rise
New Delhi (PTI): Airfares are set to rise with Air India and Air India Express deciding to levy a fuel surcharge of Rs 399 on each domestic flight ticket from March 12 and also hike the charge for international bookings due to a steep rise in jet fuel prices amid the Middle East conflict.
The new fuel surcharges will be implemented in a phased manner.
Regretting the need for fuel surcharges, Air India on Tuesday said that without such surcharges, "it is likely that some flights would be unable to cover operating costs and would have to be cancelled".
In the first phase, a fuel surcharge of Rs 399 per domestic flight ticket would be imposed from March 12, and the same will also be applicable for SAARC flights, a statement said on Tuesday.
For West Asia flights, the fuel surcharge will be USD 10 and hiked by USD 30 to USD 90 for Africa flights and by USD 20 to USD 60 for Southeast Asia services.
All these changes will be effective from March 12, including for flights to and from Singapore. Currently, there is no fuel surcharge for Singapore services.
In the second phase, Air India will increase the fuel surcharge by USD 25 to USD 50 for flights to Europe, North America and Australia starting from March 18.
Fuel surcharge for Europe flights will rise to USD 125 from USD 100, and for North America flights, the same will increase from USD 150 to USD 200.
As per the statement, the fuel surcharge for Australia flights will increase from USD 150 to USD 200.
Currently, Air India Express does not levy fuel surcharges on any of its flights.
"Air India group today announced a phased expansion of a fuel surcharge on its domestic and international routes, necessitated by the steep rise in jet fuel prices arising from the geopolitical situation in the Gulf region," the statement said.
Since early March 2026, the statement that Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), which accounts for nearly 40 per cent of an airline's operating costs, has seen significant price escalation due to supply interruptions.
"In India, this pressure is amplified by high Excise Duty and VAT on ATF in major metro cities such as Delhi and Mumbai, magnifying the cost impact and placing substantial strain on airline operating economics," it said.
For the avoidance of doubt, the statement said that tickets that have already been issued prior to the above times will not attract the new surcharge unless customers seek date or itinerary changes that require a recalculation of the fare.
There was no announcement regarding fuel surcharges from IndiGo, SpiceJet and Akasa Air.
