JDS and Cong clinch seat sharing deal, Cong gets 20 LS seats, JDS 8
Bengaluru, Mar 13: The Congress will contest 20 seats and JD(S) eight in the Lok Sabha polls in Karnataka under a deal finalised by the two ruling coalition partners on Wednesday after weeks of haggling.
The deal was hammered out at a meeting between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and JD(S) secretary general Danish Ali at Kochi in Kerala this evening, the JDS said.
The Lok Sabha constituencies that JD(S) will contest are Uttara Kannada, Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, Tumkur, Hassan, Mandya, Bengaluru North and Vijayapura.
JD(S) tweeted about the constituencies from where its candidates will be contesting from, on its official twitter handle.
"@INCIndia @JanataDal_S seat sharing for Karnataka #LokSabhaPolls2019 is confirmed. 20 for Congress and 8 for JDS," Karnataka Pradesh Congress President Dinesh Gundu Rao said.
JD(S) had won Hassan and Mandya Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 general election. The Congress had bagged nine and BJP 17. However in the bypolls, the BJP had yielded the Bellary seat to Congress.
During a recent meeting with Rahul Gandhi at New Delhi, JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda had scaled down his party's demand and asked the national party to allot at least 10 out of the 28 Lok Sabha seats.
The JD(S) had earlier demanded that it be given 12 seats to contest, banking on two-third, one-third formula adopted in ministry formation and allocation of posts of heads of state-run boards and corporations.
According to party sources, JD(S) bagged Tumkur seat after a hard bargain as the grand old party had decided not to cede the constituencies where the party has a sitting MP to the regional partner.
The Congress' S P Muddahanumegowda is current MP from Tumkur, and is a ticket aspirant.
Mysore-Kodagu was another constituency that JD(S) had demanded from the old Mysuru region, but could not bag it due to opposition from Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah as the seat is in his home turf,the sources said.
Sharing of seats from old Mysuru region was an acid test for both the parties as the JD(S) considers it as its bastion, and the Congress has its sitting members from most of the seats there.
The Congress and JD(S), which fought bitterly against each other during 2018 assembly polls, joined hands to form the government as the election threw up a hung verdict.
Among the eight seats that JD(S) has got, in Hassan and Mandya the party has its sitting MPs, Tumkur is with Congress, rest five constituencies are represented by the BJP.
While the KPCC chief Wednesday said the party will announce its first list of candidates on March 16, JD(S) is too likely to announce its list in a couple of days.
The JD(S) has already announced Gowda's grandsons Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Prajwal Revanna as candidates from the party bastions of Mandya and Hassan respectively.
While Nikhil is son of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, Prajwal is son of Gowda's elder son and PWD Minister H D Revanna.
Gowda has also announced former MLA Madhu Bangarappa as JD(S) candidate from Shivamogga.
Madhu is the son of former Chief Minister S Bangarappa and is likely to be pitted against another former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa's son and sitting BJP MP B Y Raghavendra.
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Metro ridership in Haryana sees over 13 pc rise in 2025-26
Chandigarh (PTI): Haryana's urban transit system witnessed a strong growth in 2025-26, with metro ridership registering a robust 13.55 per cent increase, the state government said in a statement on Thursday.
The progress was reviewed in the 64th board meeting of Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation (HMRTC) chaired by Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi.
Between April 2025 and February 2026, the metro network recorded over 1.74 crore passengers, compared to 1.53 crore in the corresponding period the previous year.
July recorded the highest monthly growth at 22.93 per cent, while all months showed consistent positive trends.
Financial performance has also remained strong, with fare revenue rising 12.64 per cent till January 2026, the statement said.
Non-fare revenue surged by 108 per cent, driven by effective monetisation of station spaces, advertisements and commercial activities, resulting in an operating surplus for Rapid Metro.
Further initiatives, including the auction of station naming rights and additional advertisement sites, are expected to strengthen HMRTC's financial position, the statement said.
Appreciating the performance, Rastogi stated that the consistent rise in ridership and revenue reflects the success of Haryana's integrated transport strategy, rising commuter confidence and a clear shift towards public transport.
HMRTC Managing Director Chander Shekhar Khare said that, alongside operational gains, the state is making steady progress on an ambitious pipeline of metro and regional transit projects.
Metro connectivity from Gurugram Sector 56 to Panchgaon is under active consideration, with Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited studying the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and layout plan, and finalising a depot location in Sector 36A near Sihi village, he said.
The Gurugram-Faridabad Namo Bharat corridor has achieved a key milestone, with alignment and station locations finalised and approved by the Haryana government. The National Capital Region Transport Corporation is preparing the DPR, he added.
Similarly, the Delhi-Kundli metro extension is proposed to be placed before the Haryana Cabinet for approval.
The 136.3-kilometre Delhi-Panipat-Karnal RRTS Corridor has also progressed, with the revised DPR submitted for financial concurrence ahead of Haryana Cabinet consideration.
Within Gurugram, DPR preparation has been approved for key intra-city corridors, including the 17.09-kilometre Bhondsi-Subhash Chowk-Rajeev Chowk-Sohna Chowk Railway Station corridor, enhancing connectivity along Sohna Road, Khare said.
