Prohibitory orders around Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru in view of crucial cabinet meet

Vartha Bharati | 11-07-2019 | 10:46:00 IST

Bengaluru: As the stage is set for a major political showdown starting Thursday in the wake of a spate of resignations threatening the existence of the coalition government in Karnataka, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Alok Kumar has issued prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, restricting the gathering of more than five persons and any form of protests within the two-km area around the Vidhana Soudha.

The police commissioner issued the orders on Wednesday night, taking into account intelligence inputs.

The prohibitory orders came into effect on Thursday when Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy is scheduled to chair a cabinet meeting in the backdrop of 16 MLAs, including Housing Minister M T B Nagaraj, resigning and two Independent legislators -- R Shankar and H Nagesh -- withdrawing support to the Congress-JD(S) coalition government on Wednesday.

Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar is yet to accept the resignations of the MLAs. Kumar has said he has to first hear the legislators. He has also pointed out that of the 16 resignations of the MLAs, only five were in the proper format.

The developments surfaced well ahead of the Assembly session starting Friday. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked Kumaraswamy to step down, claiming that his government has lost the majority.

The saffron party has also urged the governor to step in following the crisis.

"We have petitioned the governor seeking his intervention. We may even move a no-confidence motion against the government. We will urge the governor to direct the government to prove its majority," BJP MLC and party spokesperson N Ravikumar told PTI.

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Odisha: BJD suspends 6 MLAs for cross-voting in RS polls

21-03-2026 ¦ 21-03-2026 IST

Courtesy: PTI

Bhubaneswar (PTI): The Biju Janata Dal on Saturday suspended six of its MLAs for cross-voting during the recent election to four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha.

The suspended legislators were Chakramani Kanhar of Baliguda seat, Naba Kishor Mallick of Jayadev constituency, Souvic Biswal of Choudwar-Cuttack, Subasini Jena of Basta, Ramakanta Bhoi of Tirtol and Devi Ranjan Tripathy of Banki, an order by party chief Naveen Patnaik showed.

The suspension decision was taken at the opposition party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting presided over by Patnaik.

The six MLAs were issued a show-cause notice on March 17.

They submitted their replies on Friday evening, and those were found not satisfactory, said the BJD's chief whip in the Assembly, Pramila Mallik.

The ruling BJP won two of the four Rajya Sabha seats while the opposition BJD and a saffron party-backed Independent candidate bagged one seat each in the biennial polls held last Monday.

While the total number of BJP legislators and Independent MLAs supporting the ruling party was 82 in the 147-member House, the saffron party candidates secured 93 first preference votes, which was 11 more than its strength in the Assembly.

Of these 11 votes, eight were of BJD MLAs and three of Congress legislators, an official had said.