BJP receives shot in the arm in municipal polls in Karnataka
Bengaluru, Oct 31: The ruling BJP in poll-bound Karnataka received a shot in the arm as the party won 17 out of 35 seats in the Vijayapura municipal elections and emerged as the single largest party.
The party also performed well in the Kollegal city municipal council bypoll by winning six out of seven seats.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai congratulated Vijayapura BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and party workers for achieving an "unprecedented feat" in the municipal polls.
According to officials, the Congress won 10 seats, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) two, and the JD(S) one while five Independents also emerged victorious in Vijayapura (earlier known as Bijapur) in north Karnataka.
The municipal elections in Vijayapura and Kollegal were held on October 28 and the results were announced on Monday.
Polls were held in Vijayapura after a gap of six years and it was the first election since the city municipality was upgraded to a corporation.
Sources in the BJP said the party is confident of coming to power in Vijayapura with the support of independents.
The bypolls in Kollegal in Chamarajanagar district was necessitated after seven Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) councillors joined the BJP.
These seven councillors were the supporters of MLA N Mahesh, who was expelled from the BSP after he, along with a few others from the Congress and JD(S), helped the saffron party come to power in Karnataka.
Following the bypoll results, the BJP has emerged as the single largest party with 13 seats, Congress came second with 11 and BSP two while there are four independents in the 31-member Kollegal CMC.
Bommai said, "By winning 17 seats out of 35 seats in the Vijayapura Municipal Corporation elections, our party has achieved an unprecedented feat. My heartiest congratulations to every member who ensured our victory. I thank from the bottom of my heart to the Vijayapura BJP MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and dedicated party workers who toiled hard for the BJP."
Regarding the Kollegal bypoll results, the Chief Minister thanked the expelled BSP MLA Mahesh, the candidates and the party workers for their victory.
Bommai also thanked the voters who liked the "policies and achievements" of the governing party.
ಪಕ್ಷದ ದೇವದುರ್ಲಭ ಕಾರ್ಯಕರ್ತರು ಹಾಗೂ ಪ್ರಮುಖರಿಗೆ ನನ್ನ ಹೃದಯಾಂತರಾಳದಿಂದ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು. ಕೇಂದ್ರ ಹಾಗೂ ರಾಜ್ಯ ಸರ್ಕಾರದ ಸಾಧನೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮೆಚ್ಚಿ ಮತ ನೀಡಿದ ಮತದಾರ ಪ್ರಭುಗಳಿಗೆ ನನ್ನ ವಿಶೇಷ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳು.
— Basavaraj S Bommai (@BSBommai) October 31, 2022
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ಗೆಲುವು ಸಾಧಿಸಿದ ಅಭ್ಯರ್ಥಿಗಳಿಗೆ ಹಾರ್ದಿಕ ಅಭಿನಂದನೆಗಳು. ಪಕ್ಷದ ಗೆಲುವಿಗಾಗಿ ಹಗಲಿರುಳು ಶ್ರಮಿಸಿದ ಶಾಸಕ ಡಾ. ಎನ್. ಮಹೇಶ್ & ದೇವದುರ್ಲಭ ಕಾರ್ಯಕರ್ತರಿಗೆ ಮನಃಪೂರ್ವಕವಾಗಿ ಧನ್ಯವಾದಗಳನ್ನು ಅರ್ಪಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ. @BJP4Karnataka
— Basavaraj S Bommai (@BSBommai) October 31, 2022
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Jitan Ram Manjhi's video triggers fresh 'vote chori' row in Bihar
Patna (PTI): A row has erupted in Bihar over a video in which Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has purportedly spoken of having "helped" a candidate who was trailing by a narrow margin in an assembly poll.
The video, which seems to have been shot in Manjhi's Lok Sabha constituency of Gaya, has been shared by the opposition RJD-Congress combine, which was drubbed in the recently held elections, as "proof of vote chori" by the BJP-led NDA.
Manjhi, however, said the video was tampered with and shared on social media.
The former Bihar chief minister, who heads the Hindustani Awam Morcha, can be heard speaking of an incident involving Tikari assembly segment, which his party's candidate Anil Kumar had won in 2020 but lost to RJD in the assembly polls held last month.
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Speaking in the local dialect Magahi, the octogenarian can be heard saying, "the candidate was trailing by 2,700 votes in the 2020 assembly polls. He called me up, and I telephoned the official concerned. Finally, he was declared the winner".
PTI could not independently verify the authenticity of the video.
"This time, the candidate lost by 1,600 votes. But instead of contacting me, he chose to concede defeat. The then DM of Gaya, who is now posted in Tripura, telephoned me to enquire what went wrong this time. I could have done nothing when the candidate chose to return home without contacting me", Manjhi can be heard as saying in the video.
The RJD, which may have wrested Tikari but has suffered a crash in its tally to only 25 from 75 five years ago, shared the video on its official X handle, claiming it as "the truth of the artificial popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi".
The opposition party alleged that Modi, aided by the Election Commission, had made in the recent elections, "an unsuccessful attempt at political assassination of our young and revolutionary leader Tejashwi Yadav".
Bihar Congress spokesman Asit Nath Tiwari echoed the sentiments and alleged, "Union home minister was all fire and brimstone inside Parliament recently while reacting to allegations of vote theft. Now, the confession of his cabinet colleague suggest that what is taking place is not vote chori but vote dacoity".
However, Manjhi came out with an angry post on his X handle claiming "a video of mine has been tampered with and shared on social media by those who think they can defame a son of a Musahar (a Mahadalit community)"
"I want to tell all such people that Manjhi has now become a brand. He is not going to be scared of anyone", added the Union minister.
When Bihar minister and former state BJP president Dilip Jaiswal was asked about the controversy, he said, "I have seen the unedited video. Manjhi was speaking about counting of votes having been stalled for several hours in 2020, after his candidate was trailing in the penultimate round by a small margin. After counting of votes was over, the candidate was declared".
