Voting underway in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka
Bengaluru (PTI): Voting was underway on Friday in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in 14 constituencies in Karnataka.
Polling began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.
A total of 247 candidates -- 226 men and 21 women -- are in the fray for the first phase covering most of the southern and coastal districts, where more than 2.88 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 30,602 polling stations.
The Congress and BJP are locking horns on the electoral battleground again in less than a year.
This election is witnessing a straight fight between the ruling Congress and the BJP-JD(S) combine unlike the Assembly elections in May last year which witnessed a triangular contest among the three parties.
The state has a total of 28 Lok Sabha constituencies. The second phase of polling in the remaining 14 seats is on May seven.
In the first phase, while the Congress is contesting in all 14 seats, BJP has fielded nominees in 11 and its alliance partner JD(S), which joined the National Democratic Alliance in (NDA) in September last year, in three -- Hassan, Mandya and Kolar.
Besides the three, the segments where elections are being held on Friday are: Udupi-Chikmagalur, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South and Chikkballapur.
According to Election Commission, 1.4 lakh polling officials are on duty for the first phase.
Besides them, 5,000 micro-observers, 50,000 civil police personnel, and 65 companies of Central Paramilitary Force and State Armed Police force of other States have been deployed for security.
All the 2,829 polling stations of Bangalore Rural parliamentary constituency are being webcast.
"This is as per the request of our returning officers and observers; so we have given more than double the Central paramilitary force for Bangalore Rural constituency. Seven companies of Central paramilitary forces have been inducted at the constituency since April 22," Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena has said.
In fact, out of the total 30,602 polling stations in the first phase, 19,701 are webcast, and 1,370 covered via CCTVs, he had added.
Chikkaballapur has a maximum number of 29 candidates, followed by 24 in Bangalore Central, and Dakshina Kannada has the least number at nine.
JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy from Mandya, his brother-in-law and noted cardiologist C N Manjunath from Bangalore Rural on a BJP ticket against Deputy CM D K Shivakumar's brother and MP D K Suresh of Congress, and erstwhile Mysuru royal family scion Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar from Mysore, from the BJP, are among the prominent candidates in the fray in the first phase.
Also in the contest are BJP MP Tejasvi Surya from Bangalore South pitted against Minister Ramalinga Reddy's daughter Sowmya Reddy of Congress, and Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje on BJP ticket from Bangalore North against former Indian Institute of Management Bangalore professor M V Rajeev Gowda of Congress.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Six doctors booked for misleading father of child who died due to ‘wrong treatment’
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (PTI): A case has been registered against six doctors of a private hospital in Maharashtra’s Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar for allegedly misleading the father of a child who died under their care, police said on Friday.
The accused doctors also allegedly tampered with the evidence, they said.
According to a release by the police, a 5-year-old kid was admitted to Vedant Hospital in the city’s Sutgirni area on April 26. The boy underwent a surgery at the hospital the same day.
The child died on May 6 after being under treatment for nearly 10 days.
The boy’s father Avinash Aghav has alleged that his son died due to wrong treatment at the hospital. He also claimed that evidence was destroyed and papers related to the treatment were not given to him, the release said.
The complainant has accused the hospital of tampering with the CCTV footage of the premises from April 26 to April 28, the release said.
The doctors – Arjun Pawar, Shaikh Ilyas, Ajay Kale, Abhijit Deshmukh, Tushar Chavhan and Nitin Adhane – were booked on Wednesday for causing death by negligence and destruction of evidence under the Indian Penal Code, the release added.
The police release did not explain the time gap between the death of the child and the registration of the case against the doctors.
