PIL against scheme of free bus travel for women in Karnataka withdrawn
Bengaluru, Aug 31: A public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the free bus travel for women in Karnataka under the 'Shakti' scheme was allowed to be withdrawn by the High Court of Karnataka on Thursday.
The HC found that the PIL filed by three law students was vague and not backed by any study.
Ashwin Shankar Bhat, Neha Venkatesh, and Yashika Saravanan claimed in the PIL that the scheme has resulted in “chaos, commotions and unruly behavior of the crowd in bus stands and affecting children and senior citizens and also causing severe loss to the economy.” The petition claimed that “free travel in state-owned buses is causing more harm than benefits to women.”.
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During the hearing of the PIL, the bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice M G S Kamal asked the counsel for the petitioner whether the travel in government buses was a comfortable affair before the 'Shakti' scheme was launched.
The Court sought answers about where the overcrowding was occurring, whether the scheme was limited to any particular group of people and whether a study was conducted in this regard. The Bench also questioned whether the PIL was seeking a solution for overcrowding or questioning the scheme.
Pointing to the Mumbai local trains, the court asked whether the petitioners were aware of how crowded they were.
It advised the petitioners that PILs should be filed only after proper preparations. The counsel for the petitioners sought permission to withdraw the PIL which was allowed by the Court.
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We will move court again to resist voter deletions: Mamata
Kolkata (PTI): West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the BJP and the Election Commission over voter deletions during the SIR exercise and said her party will move a court again to resist the removal of electors from the rolls.
Her comments came after nearly 91 lakh voters' names were deleted from the electoral rolls following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision in the state.
“You will not be able to defeat the TMC by deleting names. We will move a court again to resist the exclusion of names," Banerjee said while attacking her principal challenger BJP over the roll revision exercise.
Banerjee had in February argued in the Supreme Court as she sought an intervention in the SIR process.
The EC figures, which pushed the total deletion to over 90.83 lakh names from the original voter base of 7.66 crore in October 2025, showed that the proportion of removal of electors now remains at over 11.85 per cent.
Criticising the poll panel over the SIR process, she also said, "We will fight legally to get the names included on the list as per the Constitution. If people cannot cast their votes, what is the need to frame the tribunal? And then you are saying that the list has been frozen. What is this? We will challenge it and try to understand it."
Addressing a poll rally at Arambagh in Hooghly district, the TMC supremo accused the saffron party of trying to manipulate the electoral rolls and offering money to woo voters.
Banerjee also charged the Election Commission with intimidating people over the phone.
“It (EC) is working at the behest of the BJP. It is calling people over the telephone to threaten and intimidate them,” she claimed.
Later, while speaking at a rally in Balagarh in the same district, Banerjee warned that voting for the BJP would effectively mean "giving up fish, meat, and speaking in Bengali".
“People are not allowed to eat eggs, fish, or meat in the BJP-ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra. The same will happen here if the BJP comes to power," Banerjee claimed.
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