9 Muslim candidates win in Karnataka Assembly polls, all from Congress
New Delhi, May 14: Nine Muslim candidates, all from the Congress, emerged victorious in the Karnataka Assembly polls.
The Congress on Saturday made a stunning comeback in Karnataka, winning 135 of the 224 Assembly seats. The BJP, which bagged 66 seats, lost the only southern state it was in power.
The consolidation of Muslim votes, which make up nearly 13 per cent of the state's electorate, seems to have worked in favour of the Congress. The party has promised to restore a four per cent quota for Muslims, which the erstwhile BJP government scrapped.
Notably, these were the first Assembly elections in the state since the controversy over hijab and the central government imposed a five-year ban on the Islamist organisation Popular Front of India (PFI).
The Congress handed over tickets to 15 Muslim candidates and nine of them emerged victorious. The JD(S) fielded 23 Muslim candidates, but none could secure a victory.
Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM contested two seats and secured only 0.02 per cent of the votes polled. The SDPI the political outfit of PFI met a similar fate as none of its 16 candidates could open their accounts.
For the Congress, Rahim Khan won in Bidar by a margin of 10,659 votes; UT Khader Fareed in Mangalore by 22,977 votes; Tanveer Sait in Narasimharaja (Mysuru) by 31,091 votes; Asif (Raju) Sait in Belagavi North by 4,551 votes; Rizwan Arshad in Shivajinagar by 23,198 votes; B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan in Chamrajpet by 53,983 votes; H A Iqbal Hussain in Ramanagaram by 10,846 votes; N A Haris in Shanti Nagar by 7,070 votes; and Kaneez Fatima in Gulbarga North by a margin 2,979 votes.
Fatima the incumbent MLA from the Gulbarga North constituency was the lone Muslim woman candidate fielded by the Congress.
Only two of these nine Muslim candidates Asif (Raju) Sait and Iqbal Hussain have been re-elected. The remaining seven will be going to the Assembly for the first time.
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Dalit youngster in Raichur denied entry into temple: Video viral
Police, priest, Dalit leaders ‘unaware of matter’
Raichur: The priest of the Ambabhavani Temple in Athkur village has been accused of stopping Dalit youngsters from entering the temple for a ritual related the Navaratri festival, although related parties, including the priest and Dalit leaders of the village, have denied knowledge about the incident.
A video of the youngsters, belonging to the Madiga community, who wanted to wear the ritual garlands for the festive period, being denied entry into the temple and the priest handing them the garlands keeping them outside the threshold has gone viral on social media platforms.
Yapaladinni Police officers, however, have said no police complaint about the matter has been filed so far. In addition, Dalit leaders in Athkur have said no such incident has occurred in the village, but the police officers are conducting an inquiry since youngsters have alleged that they were denied entry into the temple.
The temple priest has also refuted the charges against him, clarifying that action will be taken if a complaint is filed.
