Karnataka Medical Council's elections to be held on January 23
Bengaluru: Karnataka Medical Council, the statutory body established under the Karnataka Medical Registration Act 1961 and tasked with registering the medical professionals who have earned the qualifications of MBBS/MD/MS/ MCh/DM or similar, and also with regulating the ethical behaviour of these registered practitioners will go for polling to elect the new office bearers of the body, on January 23 after a long fought legal battle.
The last elections to the Council were held in August 2011 through postal ballot and were therefore due in August 2016, after 5 years. But the KMC did not initiate the election process and the same was challenged in a writ petition (48880/2016) at the Karnataka High Court, Bengaluru. The High Court ordered in Dec 2018 to hold the elections within 2 months. However, the Council did not do so and a Contempt of Court petition (CCC1466/2019) was filed in August 2019 and the High Court ordered to conduct the elections on January 23, 2020.
However, the Registrar of KMC prepared a voters list of only 42000 practitioners, as against the total registrations of more than 128000. This was again brought before the High Court and on January 10, 2020, (IA1/2020 on WP40580/2017) the High Court ordered that the Returning Officer, the Joint Registrar of Co-Operative Societies, is empowered to prepare the voters list considering all the objections raised by the registered doctors.
But another petition before the Kalburgi Bench of Karnataka High Court on Jan 17, 2020 succeeded in getting this list prepared by the returning officer cancelled. The aggrieved doctors had to file another petition before the Kalaburgi Bench on January 20 and the Hon'ble High Court has now restored the papers to the returning officer to prepare the voters list, taking into consideration all the objections. With this order, the way is now cleared for the elections, with most of the registered practitioners getting back their right to vote.
The cases were argued successfully on behalf of the petitioner doctors by Sri Dore Raj at the Kalaburgi Bench and Sri Basavaraj S at the Bengaluru Bench. These petitions are landmarks in the struggle to ensure democracy and justice in a statutory body that dispenses justice to common people as well as doctors.
This is the first time the elections are being held by direct ballot and conducted by the Dept of Co-operative Societies. Booths have been set up in all the districts and arrangements are being made to ensure free and fair elections. The voting will be held between 7am and 6pm on Jan 23, 2020. The details of voter’s lists and polling booths are available at http://kmcelecyion2020ro.in
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UDF leaders see local body poll trends as pointer to 2026 Assembly elections in Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): Buoyed by the strong performance of the Congress-led UDF in the local body polls, KPCC president Sunny Joseph said on Saturday that the front's results indicated the people had rejected the LDF government.
According to early trends, the UDF was leading in more grama panchayats, block panchayats, municipalities and corporations than the LDF.
The local body polls were held in two phases in the state earlier this week.
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Speaking to reporters here, Joseph said the people of Kerala had extended their support to the UDF.
"We could expose the LDF government’s anti-people stance and the people understood it. The LDF’s fake propaganda was rejected by the people. The UDF is moving towards a historic victory," he said.
He said a united effort, proper preparations, good candidate selection and hard work had resulted in the Congress and the UDF’s victory in the elections.
Asked about the prospects in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, Joseph said the party was studying the matter and would comment later.
LDF convenor T P Ramakrishnan said the results would be closely examined.
According to him, the government had done everything possible for the people.
"Why such a verdict happened will be examined at the micro level. People’s opinion will be considered and further steps will be taken," he said.
He added that decisions would be taken after analysing the results. "If any corrective measures are required, we will initiate them and move forward," he said.
AICC leader K C Venugopal said the results showed that people had begun ousting those who, he alleged, were responsible for the loss of gold at Lord Ayyappa’s temple.
"This trend will continue in the Assembly elections as well. It is an indication that the people are ready to bring down the LDF government," he said.
Venugopal said the UDF had registered victories even in CPI(M) and LDF strongholds.
"I congratulate all UDF workers for their hard work. Congress workers and leaders worked unitedly," he said.
Referring to remarks made by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against the Congress on polling day, Venugopal said the voters had responded through the verdict.
"I do not know whether the chief minister understands that the people are against him. Otherwise, he does not know the sentiment of the people. The state government cannot move an inch further," he said.
He said the results indicated a strong comeback for the UDF in Kerala.
Asked whether the Sabarimala gold loss issue had affected the LDF in the local polls, Venugopal said the CM and the CPI(M) state secretary did not take the issue seriously.
"We took a strong stand on the matter. The BJP played a foul game in it," he alleged.
On the BJP's role in the local body elections, Venugopal alleged that the party operated with the CPI(M) 's tacit support.
"The CPI(M) supported the central government on issues such as PM-SHRI, labour codes and corruption in national highway construction. The CPI(M) is facing ideological decline, and the state government’s policies are against the party’s own decisions," he said.
Meanwhile, LDF ally Kerala Congress (M) leader Jose K Mani said the party could not win all the wards it had expected in the elections.
He congratulated winners from all parties and said the party would closely examine the losses and identify shortcomings. "Later, we will take corrective measures," he added.
Senior Congress leader and MP Rajmohan Unnithan said the trends in the local body elections indicated that the UDF would return to power in the 2026 Assembly elections.
"We will win 111 seats as in 1977 and return to power in 2026. The anti-government sentiment of the people is reflected in the elections," he said.
Unnithan said the people were disturbed and unhappy with the present government.
"The trend indicates the end of the LDF government," he added.
CPI(M) MLA M M Mani said the people had shown ingratitude towards the LDF despite benefiting from welfare schemes.
"After receiving all welfare schemes and living comfortably, people voted against us due to some temporary sentiments. Is that not ingratitude," he asked.
Mani said no such welfare initiatives had taken place in Kerala earlier.
"People are receiving pensions and have enough to eat. Even after getting all this, they voted against us. This is what can be called ingratitude," he said.
Muslim League state president Panakkad Sayyid Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said the results were beyond expectations.
"The outcome points towards the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram, indicating that a change of government is imminent. We are going to win the Assembly election," he said.
