BENGALURU: After announcing that it will field 25 candidates in the upcoming Karnataka elections, Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has decided to pull back its candidates. SDPI’s decision to withdraw nominations of its candidates in all seats except three is likely to favour Congress in crucial seats of Bantwal, Sarvagnanagar and Hebbal. SDPI will now field candidates only in Narasimharaja in Mysuru, Chickpet in Bengaluru and Kalaburagi North.
“We had decided to contest for 25 seats initially but our ideological rival BJP has to be stopped from coming to power. Our stand is to ensure communal parties are kept at bay and one of our candidates gets elected to Vidhana Soudha,” said Abdul Lateef, state general secretary, SDPI. The party had announced a list of candidates for Bantwal, Sarvagnanagar, Hebbal and Mangaluru North, all of which will be withdrawn. The move will transfer all SDPI votes to Congress.
“We have not decided on whether we will campaign for any other party,” Lateef added. Consolidation of Muslim votes in favour of the Congress will benefit sitting MLA Ramanath Rai who is facing the Hindutva heat with BJP fuelling voters’ anger.
In 2013, SDPI had contested 23 seats but forfeited deposit in 22. It had a cumulative vote share of 3.27 per cent. In Narasimharaja, SDPI’s Abdul Majid had ended at second position with 29,667 votes where Congress’ Tanveer Sait won by a margin of 8,370 votes.
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Shivpuri (PTI): The 60-year-old mother of a rape accused was killed allegedly by the victim's brother in Madhya Pradesh's Shivpuri district, a police official said on Saturday.
The incident took place on Friday, Rannod police station house officer (SHO) Arvind Chauhan said.
"An anganwadi worker returning from a hospital was offered a lift by one Inder Gurjar, who took her to a secluded spot and raped her. She called up her brothers to narrate the ordeal. One brother of the victim along with two associates went to Gurjar's house and assaulted him. When Gurjar's mother Sirkunwarbai (60) intervened, she was attacked with a sharp weapon. She died on the spot," he said.
Based on a complaint filed by the deceased woman's daughter-in-law, three persons were booked for murder. One of them was held on Saturday, the official added.
A separate case has also been registered against Gurjar for rape, he said.
Police personnel have been deployed in the area in view of tension following the incident, the official added.
