KSRTC to operate 2,000 additional buses for Ugadi and Ramzan festivals
Bengaluru, Mar 26 (PTI): The state-owned Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Wednesday said it will be operating 2,000 additional buses during the Ugadi and Eid al-Fitr festivals.
In view of the Ugadi and Ramzan (Eid al-Fitr) festivals on March 30 and 31 respectively, KSRTC has made elaborate arrangements to operate 2,000 extra buses from Bengaluru to various places in addition to the existing schedules to provide transport facility to the travelling public from March 28 to 30, an official release said.
Later, special buses will be operated from various intra and inter-state places to Bengaluru on March 31, it said.
Special buses will be exclusively operated from Bengaluru Kempegowda Bus Station to Dharmasthala, Kukkesubramanya, Shivamogga, Hassan, Mangaluru, Kundapura, Sringeri, Horanadu, Davangere, Hubbali, Dharwad, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Gokarna, Sirsi, Karwar, Raichur, Kalaburagi, Ballari, Koppala, Yadgir, Bidar, Tirupathi, Vijayawada, Hyderabad and other places, KSRTC said.
Special buses from Mysuru Road Bus Station (in Bengaluru) will be exclusively operated towards Mysuru, Hunsur, Piriyapatna, Virajpet, Kushalanagar and Madikeri.
All premier special buses will be operated from Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) Bus Station, Shanthinagar (TTMC-- Traffic and Transit Management Centre) to Madurai, Kumbakonam, Chennai, Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Palakkad, Thrissur, Ernakulam, Khozikode and other places in Tamil Nadu and Kerala state.
Facilities are provided to book computerised reservation tickets in advance for the special buses, it added.
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Fascism will not be allowed to enter through the back door of vote rigging: CM Siddaramaiah
New Delhi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday asserted that fascism would not be allowed to enter India “through the back door of vote rigging” and called upon citizens to collectively defend the country’s democratic foundations.
Speaking after participating in an anti–vote rigging protest organised in New Delhi, Siddaramaiah said the gathering was not merely a political demonstration but a stand to protect Indian democracy. “We have come to the heart of our republic not as Congress workers or voters, but as protectors of Indian democracy,” he said.
Emphasising the importance of the right to vote, Siddaramaiah said it was the most sacred right guaranteed by the Constitution and the very foundation of democracy.
“Through voting, a farmer shapes the future of his children, a worker safeguards his dignity, a youth realises dreams, and a nation expresses its collective will,” he said.
He accused the BJP-led Union government of attempting to undermine this right through what he termed systematic vote rigging, including the alleged misuse of the special revision of electoral rolls. “This power is being stolen repeatedly,” he alleged.
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Warning against authoritarian tendencies, Siddaramaiah said history had shown that dictatorship does not begin with violence but with the misuse of institutions and manipulation of democratic systems.
“Across the world, authoritarian regimes pretend to protect democracy while quietly subverting it. This is what the BJP is doing today,” he charged.
He alleged that the ruling party was controlling institutions, intimidating electoral machinery, distorting voter lists, suppressing voter turnout in opposition strongholds, and misusing money and power. “This is not mere maladministration. Vote rigging is an attack on the very idea of India,” he said.
Siddaramaiah further claimed that governments formed through “stolen votes” could not be considered democratic.
“Such regimes survive through fear, fraud and distortion of the people’s mandate,” he said, adding that vote rigging posed the biggest threat to the republic since Independence.
Praising Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah said he had shown exceptional courage in exposing alleged irregularities in voter lists, booth-level manipulation and “systematic, organised vote rigging” across several states, including Karnataka, Haryana and Bihar.
Referring to Karnataka, Siddaramaiah cited Mahadevpura and Aland constituencies as examples highlighted by Gandhi. In Mahadevpura, he said, thousands of allegedly fake and fraudulent voter entries and discrepancies in electoral rolls pointed to a narrow BJP victory. In Aland, he said, attempts were made to remove the names of legitimate voters ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
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He noted that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had recently filed a chargesheet accusing seven persons, including a former BJP MLA and his son, of attempting to delete the names of around 6,000 voters in Aland.
“This is a significant legal step in the fight against vote rigging,” he said.
Siddaramaiah concluded by stating that the fight against vote rigging was rooted in constitutional morality, Ambedkarite thought and the core principle of democracy. “Sovereignty belongs to the people, not to any party, regime or those who seek to steal elections,” he said.
