BJP leads in 23 seats, leaving ruling Cong-JDS alliance way behind in Karnataka
Bengaluru, May 23: BJP in Karnataka is racing ahead of the ruling Congres-JDS coalition by leading in 23 out of total 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state, according to the Election Commission trends.
Congress is ahead in three seats and JD(S) in one, with trends available so far indicating that the alliance between the two parties may not have worked.
An Independent candidate is leading in Mandya.
Former Prime Minister and JD(S) patriarch H D DeveGowda is trailing in Tumkur against BJP's G S Basavaraj by a margin of 5,026 votes.
Veteran Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who has remained unassailable electorally in his several decades-long political career, is also trailing in Gulbarga against former party colleague- Umesh Jadhav of the BJP by 10,299 votes.
Deve Gowda's grandson and Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's son Nikhil is trailing against independent candidate- Sumalatha Ambareesh, supported by the BJP, by 1,084 votes in the bitterly fought Mandya constituency.
Gowdas other grandson Prajwal Revanna, son of minister H D Revanna, is leading in Hassan against A Manju of the BJP by a margin of 52,282 votes.
Senior Congress leaders Veerappa Moily and K H Muniyappa are trailing against BJP candidates in Chikkaballapur and Kolar by a margin of 31,169 and 51,402 votes respectively.
Union ministers D V Sadananda Gowda (Bangalore North), Ramesh Jigajinagi (Bijapur) and Ananthkumar Hegde (Uttara Kannada) are leading over their opponents.
Other BJP candidates who had established initial leads were Bache Gowda (Chikkaballapur), Annasaheb Jolle (Chikkodi), Tejavi Surya (Bangalore South), Bhagwanth Khuba (Bidar), A Narayanaswamy (Chitradurga), Nalin Kumar Kateel (Dakshina Kannada), G M Siddeshwar (Davangere) and Prathap Simha (Mysore).
Also leading BJP candidates are Pralhad Joshi in Dharwad, C S Udasi from Haveri, Muniswamy from Kolar, Karadi Snaganna from Koppal, B Y Raghavendra from Shimoga, Gaddigoudar Parvatagouda Chandanagouda from Bagalkot, Suresh Angadi from Belgaum and Devendrappa from Bellary.
Among Congress candidates leading are Rizwan Arshadfrom Bangalore Central, D K Suresh from Bangalore Rural and Dhruvanarayan from Chamarajanagar.
As the favourable trends came out, BJP cadres burst into jubilation chanting of 'BJP Dil Se, Modi Fir Se' and 'Matthomme Modi' (Modi again) in front of the party headquarters here.
The party workers swarmed Jagannath Bhavan, waving party flags, posters, placards and filling the air with pro-BJP slogans.
They burst crackers too as the trends showed the party heading towards a big victory.
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No more street vending on B’luru’s main roads, as govt plans to bring new policy for street hawkers
Bengaluru: Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Friday said that the state government has decided to formulate a new policy for footpaths in Bengaluru, under which street vending will not be allowed on main roads and sub-main roads.
Addressing the media after a budget preparation meeting and executive meeting of GBA corporations at Vidhana Soudha, Shivakumar said discussions were held with MLAs from the GBA region regarding the corporations’ budgets and key civic issues.
Leader of Opposition R. Ashok also participated in the meeting and shared his views. Officials from multiple departments, including police, BESCOM, BMRCL, BWSSB and BDA, along with ministers and legislators, were present.
He stated that all five municipalities have prepared their individual budgets, while MLAs have submitted their demands, including calls for ward-wise grants.
“We have decided to bring a new policy for footpaths. Citizens are struggling to walk as footpaths are encroached upon by street vendors,” Shivakumar said.
Highlighting the need to balance livelihoods and public convenience, he added that “a separate space will be provided for street vendors, and specific roads will be designated for their business,” ensuring that pedestrians can use footpaths without obstruction. He noted that there was unanimous agreement among MLAs on this approach.
Issuing a warning to vendors, Shivakumar said that authorities will act against those violating the rules. “If vendors operate during the day and leave their carts on the roadside at night, authorities will clear them. People should be aware of this,” he said.
Providing data on street vendors, he said that around 60,000 vendors have registered so far, of which 30,000 have applied for vehicles, and a tender has already been floated.
“Only those with street vendor identity cards will be allowed to do business. Those without ID cards will not be permitted to operate on the streets,” he added.
