Congress Wins 3 RS Seats in Karnataka, BJP Bags 1
Bengaluru: The ruling Congress in Karnataka bagged three Rajya Sabha seats and BJP one in the biennial election, amid a boycott of the poll by the JDS, alleging electoral malpractice.
Congress' Dr L Hanumanthaiah, Dr Syed Naseer Hussain and G C Chandrasekhar, and also BJP's Rajeev Chandrashekar were declared elected after a complaint by the JDS to the Election Commission caused delay in taking up counting of votes.
With its strength in the Assembly, the Congress was sure of winning two seats and eyed the third seat and won it with the support of JDS rebels and independents.
The fight was for the third seat between the third candidate of the Congress' Chandrasekhar and JDS' B M Farooq, with the ruling party pulling off a bonus victory.
JDS has 37 MLAs, falling short of the required 44 votes by 14, with its seven rebels plumping for the Congress. Businessman Rajeev Chandrasekhar secured 50 votes, six more than required, with the support from smaller parties and independents.
Congress' Chandrasekhar received 46 votes, Hanumanthaiah 44 and Hussain 42.
Two votes were declared invalid and two rejected. Taking cognisance of a complaint by JDS, the Election Commission directed the Returning Offficer M S Kumaraswamy to reject two votes cast by Congress MLAs and seggregate them before taking up counting as EC found violation of procedures under the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961.
JDS boycotted the polls midway alleging electoral malpractice and collusion of the returning officer with the Congress.
Rejecting the charge, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said: "It appears they (JDS) are desperate...they havetried everything.. they had gone to the court (on seven rebel JDS MLA issue), they failed in the court, and desperately they are making these allegations."
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'Unjust' war imposed on Iran should end: Omar
Srinagar (PTI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday said the "unjust" war imposed on the people of Iran should end and peace should prevail, asserting that the US and Israel do not get to decide the leadership of the country.
He said it is for the people of Iran to decide about their leadership.
"At the end of the day, what we want is peace. We want this unjust war that has been imposed on the people of Iran to stop. As I have said time and again, America and Israel don't get to decide who the leader of Iran is. Israel and the US don't get to decide who the Supreme Leader is," Abdullah told reporters here.
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The chief minister said Iran's assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was not just the leader of Iran, "he was an acknowledged religious leader for the entire Muslim Ummah".
"So, this should not be seen as a conflict with Iran; it has far wider implications," he added.
Abdullah welcomed the Indian ships being allowed to carry fuel through the Strait of Hormuz.
"Anything that allows us to keep our prices low is a good thing, whether that means buying oil from Russia or being able to transport our gas and fuel supplies through the strait, which otherwise is closed for everybody else. It is good for us," he said.
However, he added that while India will benefit from the move, "ultimately we will benefit when peace prevails. And we want this unjust war to end".
