6 candidates in fray for 4 RS seats from K'taka, contest heats up for fourth seat
Bengaluru, Jun 3: Six candidates are in the fray for the June 10 Rajya Sabha poll to four seats from Karnataka, necessitating a heated contest for the fourth seat.
Despite not having an adequate number of votes to win the fourth seat from the state Assembly, all the three political parties in the state -- BJP, Congress and JD(S) -- have fielded candidates for the seat, forcing an election.
The six candidates in the fray for Rajya Sabha polls from the state are -- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor-politician Jaggesh and outgoing MLC Lehar Singh Siroya from the BJP, former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh and state general secretary Mansoor Ali Khan from the Congress, and former MP D Kupendra Reddy from the JD(S).
Among the candidates, Sitharaman and Jairam Ramesh are seeking re-election from the state.
Despite JD(S) seeking support to ensure Reddy's election to the Upper House of the parliament, the Congress did not withdrawn its second candidate Khan from the fray on Friday, the last day for withdrawal of nomination, and has issued a whip to all its MLAs asking them to vote for the party's candidates.
The JD(S) had sought Congress' support by invoking secularism and to keep communal forces away. JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda is even said to have discussed with Congress President Sonia Gandhi in this regard.
The Congress had in turn asked the JD(S) to support its candidate Khan, and return the favour, reminding the regional party that it had supported its patriarch and former PM Deve Gowda's election to Rajya Sabha last time.
Announcement of Khan's name as the party's second candidate was a surprise move by the Congress, as it has adequate number of votes to win just one seat.
Following this move, the ruling BJP too announced the candidature of Siroya, despite having numbers to comfortably win only two seats.
The election to four Rajya Sabha seats is necessitated as the term of office of members Nirmala Sitharaman and K C Ramamurthy of BJP, and Jairam Ramesh -- is due to expire on June 30. The fourth member Oscar Fernandes of the Congress passed away last year.
A candidate needs the support of 45 MLAs to win, and based on their strength in the Legislative Assembly, the BJP can win two seats and the Congress one.
After electing two Rajya Sabha candidates (Sitharaman and Jaggesh) on its own strength in the Assembly, the BJP will be left with an additional 32 MLAs votes.
The Congress will be left with 24 MLAs votes after electing Jairam Ramesh, while the JD(S) has only 32 MLAs, which is not sufficient to win a seat.
Counting of votes will take place on June 10 at 5 pm, which is after the polling hours.
Official sources said, as there are three candidates for the fourth seat and none of them have adequate number of votes to win, a situation may arise where the second and third preferential votes may have to be counted if necessary.
There are talks within political circles that the BJP may be at advantage if preferential votes were to be counted.
Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah in response to a question said, "Why should we withdraw our candidate (Khan)? We have fielded him because we want to win."
"We expect lawmakers to cast conscience votes. I can't tell you now who will vote for us," he said, hinting at the possibility of cross-voting.
While JD(S) leader H D Revanna said one has to wait and watch what happens on the polling day, and his party expected the Congress to keep up its words of supporting secular forces.
"Ask Congress whether they have had any internal understanding with BJP to help the saffron party?" he said.
However, BJP leaders have expressed confidence of winning three of the four seats it is contesting in.
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NEET aspirant from Haryana hangs self in Kota; parents suspect murder, demand fair probe
Kota (Rajasthan), Apr 29: A 20-year-old NEET aspirant was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his hostel room in Kunhari area here, with his parents suspecting he was murdered, police said on Monday.
This is the eighth case of suicide by a coaching student in Kota since January. The number of student suicides in Kota stood at 26 in 2023.
Sumit Panchal, who hailed from Haryana's Rohtak, had been preparing for NEET at a coaching institute here for over a year, the police said.
His parents have demanded the registration of a murder case against unidentified persons and an impartial investigation into the matter.
On demand of the student's parents, a medical board was constituted to perform the autopsy, said Assistant Sub-Inspector Kaptan, who is investigating the case.
The body was handed over to the family after the post-mortem, they said.
The student had allegedly hanged himself around 9 hours before his body was spotted by the hostel staff, the ASI said.
Panchal's body was found hanging from the ceiling fan of his room at the hostel in Landmark City under the Kunhari police station limits on Sunday night, they said.
However, his parents suspected Panchal was murdered, citing that the injury on his neck from the rope was too deep to be caused by hanging, the police said.
A case of unnatural death under section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been lodged for initial investigation in the matter, they said.
No suicide note was recovered from the student's hostel room and the reason behind his extreme step is yet to be ascertained, Arvind Bhardwaj, Circle Inspector (CI) at Kunhari police station, said on Monday.
Panchal was supposed to take the NEET-UG exam next month, the police said.
He allegedly hanged himself sometime on Sunday noon but the matter came to light only around 9.30 pm when the warden spotted the body and informed the police, the CI said.
A police team rushed to the spot and recovered the body and shifted it to the mortuary of MBS Hospital for postmortem, he added.
In gross violation of safety norms, the hostel room did not have an anti-suicide device installed with the ceiling fan, which could have averted the tragedy, the officer added.
Meanwhile, the deceased's father, uncle and grandfather who reached Kota on Monday morning to claim the body suspected foul play and claimed Panchal did not commit suicide but was murdered.
"Sumit was good at studies and would always assure us of securing a rank among the top ten. He cannot commit suicide," his uncle Surendra Panchal told PTI outside the mortuary.
The wound on his neck is so deep that it couldn't have been caused by hanging, he claimed and demanded autopsy by medical board.
The student's family has also demanded the formation of a SIT for investigation in the matter, CI Bhardwaj said.
