Karnataka polls: Nomination withdrawal ends, 2,613 candidates in election fray
'Rebel trouble' for parties in some seats
Bengaluru (PTI): A total of 2,613 candidates are in the poll fray, as the withdrawal of candidatures for the May 10 Assembly elections in Karnataka came to an end on Monday, election officials said.
A total of 517 candidates have withdrawn their candidature till today, even as parties faced "rebel trouble" in several segments. Out of 2,613 candidates in the poll fray, 2,427 are male, 184 females and 2 others, office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka said.
Among the contesting candidates from recognised political parties- 224 from BJP, 223 Congress (supporting Sarvodaya Karnataka Party in Melukote), 207 JD(S), 209 AAP, 133 BSP , 4 CPI(M), 8 JD(U) and 2 NPP.
While 685 are from Registered Unrecognised Political Parties (RUPP), 918 are independents.
In 16 constituencies there are more than 15 candidates in the fray, so two Ballot Unit (BU) will be used in these segments during the poll.
Political parties made efforts till the last minute to ensure rebel candidates, who had filed nomination disgruntled over being denied tickets by their respective parties, to withdraw their papers.
In some cases, the parties were successful in convincing such candidates to withdraw, while "rebel trouble" loomed large on the electoral prospects of the official candidates in several constituencies.
The rebel trouble seems to be more in the case of BJP and Congress, compared to other parties.
According to party sources, Congress is facing rebel in Pulakeshinagar (Akhanda Srinivas Murthy), Harapanahalli (M P Latha Mallikarjun), Shirahatti (Ramakrishna Doddamani), Shikaripura (Nagaraj Gowda), Jagalur (H P Rajesh), Arakalagudu (Krishnegowda), among others.
In BJP rebel trouble is in - Puttur (Arun kumar Puttila), Afzalpur (Nitin Guttedar), Goolihatti Shekhar (Hosadurga), Bailhongal (Vishwanath Patil), Gundlupet (M P Sunil), Chennagiri (Madal Mallikarjun), Malur (Vijay Kumar), Gandhi Nagar (Krishnaiah Shetty), among others, party sources said.
Among those who have withdrawn as rebel candidates include - former Bengaluru Mayor- Congress' Gangambike Mallikarjun from Chickpet, BJP's Mahadevappa Yadawad from Ramdurg.
The elections to the 224-member assembly will be held on May 10 and results will be declared on May 13.
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Melinda French Gates resigns as Gates Foundation co-chair, 3 years after her divorce from Bill Gates
New York, May 13: Melinda French Gates will step down as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the nonprofit she and her ex-husband Bill Gates founded and built into one of the world's largest philanthropic organisations over the past 20 years.
“This is not a decision I came to lightly,” French Gates posted on the X platform on Monday. “I am immensely proud of the foundation that Bill and I built together and of the extraordinary work it is doing to address inequities around the world.”
She praised the foundation's CEO, Mark Suzman, and the foundation's board of trustees, which was significantly expanded after the couple announced their divorce in May 2021.
“The time is right for me to move forward into the next chapter of my philanthropy,” French Gates wrote in her statement. She organises some of her investments and philanthropic gifts through her organisation, Pivotal Ventures, which is not a nonprofit.
Bill Gates thanked French Gates for her “critical” contributions to the foundations in a statement, saying, “I am sorry to see her leave, but I am sure she will have a huge impact in her future philanthropic work.”
French Gates will receive $12.5 billion as part of her agreement with Gates, which she said would commit to future work focused on women and families.
The Gates Foundation did not immediately return a request for comment about whether those assets would come from the foundation itself. In an emailed statement, the foundation said that Suzman announced the decision to employees on Monday.
“After a difficult few years watching women's rights rolled back in the US and around the world, she wants to use this next chapter to focus specifically on altering that trajectory,” Suzman said of French Gates.
Suzman said he knew many had joined the foundation in part because of their admiration for her advocacy, especially around gender equity.
“I know how beloved Melinda is here,” Suzman wrote.
The Gates Foundation holds $75.2 billion in its endowment as of December 2023, and announced in January, it planned to spend $8.6 billion through the course of its work in 2024.
The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce from Pivotal Ventures.
