Bengaluru (PTI): Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah on Friday will embark on a two-day visit to Karnataka and is set to take out a roadshow in Devanahalli on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

The BJP leader will also take stock of the party's preparations for the May 10 Assembly elections in the state.

This is Shah's first visit to the state after announcement of poll schedule on March 29.

According to his schedule of events, Shah will hold a roadshow in the taluk headquarters town of Devanahalli, the birthplace of 18th century Mysuru ruler Tipu Sultan, in Bengaluru Rural district in the afternoon.

Shah would hold a meeting here with senior party functionaries regarding poll preparations in the evening, BJP sources said.

On Saturday, he is scheduled to attend an event organised by a private news channel before flying back to New Delhi.

In Devanahalli, the Union minister will campaign for the BJP's Pilla Munishamappa, who is pitted against sitting JD(S) MLA L N Narayanaswamy and Congress candidate K H Muniyappa, a former Union minister and seven-time MP.

Muniyappa, who was defeated in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, is foraying into the Assembly elections for the first time.

In the 2018 Assemblhy election, the fight was mainly between Narayanswamy (86,966 votes) and Venkataswamy (69,956) of the Congress. BJP candidate K Nagesh was a distant third with 9,820 votes.

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Bengaluru: In a significant development for medical aspirants, Karnataka has received 200 additional MBBS seats for the ongoing third round of NEET counselling, as approved by the Medical Counselling Committee (MCC).

The additional seats have been distributed across four private medical colleges, with each institution receiving 50 new seats. The colleges include Subbaiah Medical College in Shivamogga, BGS Global Institute of Medical Sciences in Bengaluru, Sridevi Medical College in Tumakuru, and AJ Institute of Medical Sciences in Mangaluru, as reported by Deccan Herald on Tuesday.

For the third round, 377 medical seats were already available and now 200 additional seats have been included.

The Karnataka Examinations Authority (KEA) has opened the portal for candidates to re-enter and revise their college preferences in light of the new seat availability. Option entry will remain open until 8:00 a.m. on October 15.

KEA Executive Director H. Prasanna urged candidates to carefully review the fee structures of the newly added colleges before making their selections. “Even candidates who have already been allotted and admitted to medical colleges in the first and second rounds can also participate in this round if they wish. Such candidates can enter their new options for these colleges from 11:00 a.m. on October 15 to 8:00 a.m. on October 16,” DH quoted Prasanna as saying.

Since these candidates have already paid the admission fees, they do not need to pay any caution deposit. However, those who have not yet been allotted a seat must pay the required caution deposit fee before participating.

Prasanna pointed out that if a candidate is allotted a seat in this round, admission to that seat will be compulsory.

Additionally, vacant or cancelled seats arising during the process will also be made available. “Therefore, even if some seats do not appear as available in the seat matrix, candidates are still advised to include those colleges while entering their options,” he added.