51 people, including Indian, died in recent anti-government protest in Nepal: Police
Kathmandu (PTI): At least 51 people, including an Indian national, have died in the recent 'Gen Z' protest that erupted across Nepal against corruption and a ban on social media sites, police said on Friday.
Senior Superintendent of Police Ramesh Thapa, who is co-spokesperson for Nepal police, said the casualties include one Indian national, three policemen and other Nepali citizens, The Kathmandu Post newspaper reported.
At least 36 bodies are at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Maharajgunj, where post-mortems began on Friday, it said.
Police said 17 bodies were recovered from different parts of the country on Thursday and Friday.
At least 19, mostly students, were killed when police opened fire at the Parliament building in Kathmandu when the protests under the banner of Gen Z launched their agitation on Monday.
Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli quit on Tuesday shortly after hundreds of agitators entered his office demanding his resignation over the deaths during Monday’s protest. The ban on social media was lifted Monday night.
The violence continued even after Oli's resignation, with protesters setting fire to the Parliament, the President's Office, the PM's residence, government buildings, political parties' offices and homes of senior leaders.
Meanwhile, many of the bodies were cremated at Aryaghat of Pashupatinath Temple near the bank of Bagmatai river on Friday afternoon.
Nearly 1,700 people sustained injuries during the protests. Of them, around 1,000 have returned home after recovery, police said.
Nepal's police force is gradually resuming operations in the Kathmandu Valley, with police stations and posts that were vandalised or set ablaze slowly coming back into operation, officials said.
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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah accuses EC of ‘bias’, defends state guarantee schemes ahead of bypolls
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has accused the EC of "double standards" and "bias" after it sought details on the state’s guarantee schemes in Davanagere and Bagalkot districts, where bypolls are scheduled for Thursday.
In a post on 'X' on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah said the Election Commission of India had asked the Karnataka government for information on fund releases under five ongoing guarantee schemes in the constituencies going to polls.
The polls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti, respectively.
The schemes are Gruha Jyothi, which provides 200 units of free electricity to every household; Gruha Lakshmi, offering Rs 2,000 to women heading families; and Anna Bhagya, supplying 10 kg of rice per month to each member of BPL families.
In addition, Yuva Nidhi grants Rs 3,000 to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders aged 18–25 for two years, while Shakti enables women to travel free of charge within Karnataka on government non-luxury buses.
Siddaramaiah alleged that the ECI had remained silent when similar cash transfer schemes were announced in Maharashtra and Bihar ahead of elections, calling the scrutiny of Karnataka’s schemes a "clear case of bias".
"In states like Maharashtra and Bihar, cash transfer schemes were announced or fast-tracked just before elections, directly benefiting voters. Yet the ECI remained silent. This is not neutrality—it is complicity," he said.
The CM accused the BJP and NDA governments of "a double standard", noting that when they act, the ECI "looks the other way", but when Karnataka fulfils its promises, it faces "intense scrutiny".
He added that targeting the state’s guarantee schemes is "not just political but anti-poor, anti-women, and anti-Karnataka."
Siddaramaiah clarified that these schemes were not launched in connection with the bypolls but are ongoing programmes implemented as part of the Congress government’s commitments from the 2023 Assembly elections.
Funds are transferred regularly to beneficiaries in a transparent and structured manner, he added.
"The guarantees are part of governance—a direct investment in human dignity, household stability, and economic participation, not inducement," he said.
He also accused the BJP of "hypocrisy", saying that while it criticises Karnataka’s schemes as "freebies", it rolls out similar programmes in states it governs.
"The Karnataka model has set a benchmark for the country. What is deeply concerning, however, is the ECI’s selective approach," Siddaramaiah added.
