Lunar Eclipse on Karnataka Politics: Almost Every Minister, Politician Skip Work to Ward Off 'Evil'
Bengaluru, July 27: That politicians in India often go a little overboard with their superstitions is no surprise. Sticking to the tradition, almost all political leaders in Karnataka skipped work on Friday because lunar eclipse is all about “negative vibes”.
Karnataka politicians across political lines took the day off fearing the red moon day. Leaders from all parties, including Congress, BJP, JDS and other smaller parties, refused to come out of their houses on this day.
Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and his sons Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Public Works Department Minister HD Revanna visited the Tirupati Temple and returned to Bengaluru on Friday morning.
The troika did not attend any political meet and Revanna and Deve Gowda stayed at the house while Kumaraswamy attended Deputy CM G Parameshwara’s elder brother’s funeral rites in Tumkur.
Not just that, special pujas were conducted at Deve Gowda’s residence to ward off the “evil effect”. The Gowda family believes these rituals will protect them from all negative vibes of the lunar eclipse that will start at 10:44 pm in India and end at 4:58 am.
On the other hand, former Chief Minister of Karnataka, BS Yeddyurappa shifted to Jindal Hospital a day before the eclipse. Before admitting himself to the hospital, he had given clear instructions to his party members not to indulge in any kind of political activities as he believes it will have adverse effect on the party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The Gowdas and Yeddyurappa are known for their beliefs in Hindu ritual practices, astrology and vaastu.
The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Samiti (KPCC) office on Queen’s Road in Bengaluru was shut on Friday and the entire area wore a deserted look. Even the state power house, the Vidhana Soudha had a similar look as not a single MLA could be seen on Friday.
The Vidhana Soudha car parking was completely empty, which on weekdays is usually flooded by political leaders, their followers, party workers and officers.
Speaking to News18, JDS leader and cabinet minister GT Deve Gowda said that he doesn’t indulge in blind beliefs. “I don’t believe in astrology. I will not sit back at home just because it’s lunar eclipse. If I work on these days, which are considered dangerous in astronomy, I don’t think I will be harmed. It’s up to individual perceptions,” GT Deve Gowda said.
Siddaramaiah is known to be a believer of the ‘Basava Tatva’ and had expressed his disapproval of such beliefs. During his tenure as the chief minister, he had openly said that he won’t support blind beliefs and science is all that he has faith in.
Courtesy: www.news18.com
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Supreme Court rejects plea for reverting to ballots in elections
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to revert to ballot paper voting in elections in the country.
"What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale.
Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls.
When petitioner-in-person K A Paul said he filed the PIL, the bench said, "You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?".
The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows.
"Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different," the bench retorted.
After Paul revealed he had been to over 150 countries, the bench asked him whether each of the nations had ballot paper voting or used electronic voting.
The petitioner said foreign countries had adopted ballot paper voting and India should follow suit.
"Why you don't want to be different from the rest of the world?" asked the bench.
There was corruption and this year (2024) in June, the Election Commission announced they had seized Rs 9,000 crore, Paul responded.
"But how does that make your relief which you are claiming here relevant?" asked the bench, adding "if you shift back to physical ballot, will there be no corruption?".
Paul claimed CEO and co-founder of Tesla, Elon Musk, stated that EVMs could be tampered with and added TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, and former state chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had claimed EVMs could be tampered with.
"When Chandrababu Naidu lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with. Now this time, Jagan Mohan Reddy lost, he said EVMs can be tampered with," noted the bench.
When the petitioner said everybody knew money was distributed in elections, the bench remarked, "We never received any money for any elections."
The petitioner said another prayer in his plea was the formulation of a comprehensive framework to regulate the use of money and liquor during election campaigns and ensuring such practices were prohibited and punishable under the law.
The plea further sought a direction to mandate an extensive voter education campaign to raise awareness and importance of informed decision making.
"Today, 32 per cent educated people are not casting their votes. What a tragedy. If democracy will be dying like this and we will not be able to do anything then what will happen in the years to come in future," the petitioner said.
