Voting underway for 6 Karnataka Legislative Council seats
Bengaluru (PTI): Voting is underway on Monday in the biennial elections to six seats in the Karnataka Legislative Council from teachers' and graduates' constituencies.
Seventy-eight contestants are in the fray. Counting of votes will be held on June 6.
In the 75-member Upper House, the Congress has 29 members.
The polls are being held for the constituencies of Karnataka North East Graduates, Karnataka South West Graduates, Bangalore Graduates, Karnataka South-East Teachers, Karnataka South-West Teachers and Karnataka South Teachers.
These seats fell vacant following the retirement of six members.
The graduates' constituencies and teachers' constituencies have 3.63 lakh and 70,260 voters, respectively.
The Election Commission has set up 170 polling stations for the teachers' constituencies and 461 polling stations for the graduates' constituencies.
The Congress has fielded Marithibba Gowda (South Teachers constituency), K K Manjunath (South-West Teachers), Ayanur Manjunath (South-West Graduates), Chandrashekhar Patil (North-East Graduates), Ramoji Gowda (Bangalore Graduates) and D T Srinivas (South-East Teachers).
The BJP and its ally JD(S) are contesting the MLC elections together. The BJP is fighting in four constituencies and the JD(S) two.
The BJP has fielded Amarnath Patil from the Karnataka North-East Graduates constituency, Dr Dhananjay Sarji from the Karnataka South-West Graduates constituency, A Devegowda from the Bangalore Graduates' constituency and Y A Narayanaswamy from the South-East Teachers constituency.
The JD(S) candidates are K Vivekananda from the South Teachers constituency and Bhoje Gowda from the South West Teachers constituency.
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PM Modi to address nation at around 8 PM tonight
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the nation at around 8 PM tonight, his first since the start of Operation Sindoor, officials said.
The address comes two days after India and Pakistan reached an understanding to stop all firings and military actions on land, air and sea with immediate effect.
The understanding was reached after four days of cross-border strikes that triggered fears of a wider conflict.
Operation Sindoor was launched by India on the intervening night of May 6 and 7 to avenge the killings of 26 people in the Pahalgam terror attack. Indian armed forces targeted nine terror sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, killing over 100 terrorists.
Pakistan then attempted to attack several Indian military bases on May 8, 9 and 10.
The Indian armed forces launched a fierce counter-attack on several Pakistani military installations, including Rafiqui, Murid, Chaklala, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur and Chunian.
Radar sites at Pasrur and Sialkot aviation base were also targeted using precision munitions, causing massive damage
Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai has said 35-40 Pakistani military personnel have been killed in the combat and New Delhi achieved its desired objectives.
Ghai is scheduled to speak with his Pakistani counterpart this evening, the second time since Saturday.
