Karnataka state polls most expensive ever in terms of expenditure by parties and candidates: Survey
The Centre for Media Studies, which describes itself as a not-for-profit, multi-disciplinary development research and facilitative think-tank on its website, has described the electoral exercise as "money guzzler".
According to the CMS, the money spent by various political parties and their candidates in the Karnataka assembly polls is in the range of Rs 9,500-10,500 crore, which is more than twice of what was spent in the previous assembly poll in the state in 2013.
Two days after the polling to the Karnataka assembly, the power tariff in the state was today increased by 5.30 percent overall with the hike per unit
ranging from a minimum of 20 paise to a maximum of 60 paise.Announcing the increase effective from April 1 last, the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission said the increase for domestic consumers would be 25 paise per unit in areas covered by the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM).For areas outside the BESCOM limits where the consumption was between 0 to 30 KWH, the hike would be 20 paise per unit, it said.
KERC chairperson M K Shankarlinge Gowda said various electricity supply companies (ESCOMs) -- there are five in the state -- had sought a differential tariff hike ranging between 82 paise to 162 paise per unit."As a uniform tariff is in vogue hitherto in the state, the commission has approved uniform increase across all ESCOMs with a marginal differential increase in BESCOM area," he told reporters.
Chief Ministerial candidates from the contesting parties, the Congress, JD(S) and the BJP, have rubbished exit polls and have expressed confidence in their own victory.
Click here to read what they have said
Meanwhile, the repoll at three polling stations in the state are underway. Two of these stations are in Kushtagi constituency, Koppal while there is one in Hebbal, Bengaluru. The repoll will end at 6.00 pm today.
Repolling in Hebbal’s Lottegollahalli polling station was necessitated after the EVM developed a snag.
The Kushtagi repoll was necessitated due to a procedural error. As many as 275 voters were shifted from the booth number 20 to 21, however, their names remained on booth number 20’s list. Hence, repolling is being held in both booths.
Congress leaders, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have written to President Ram Nath Kovind objecting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public address during the Karnataka Assembly election campaign.
Singh has said that the words used by PM Modi during his speech in Hubli, Karnataka are threatening.
Singh has asked President Kovind to caution PM Modi from using ‘threatening and intimidating language’ against the leaders of the Congress Party or any other party of person as it does not behove position of the prime minister.
The letter was also signed by Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party M Mallikarjun Kharge and other senior Congress leaders.
The letter also pointed out the negation of Constitutional oath taken by PM Modi.
“The President of India as the constitutional head of the union of India enjoys high duty and obligation to advise and guide the Prime Minister and his cabinet,” the letter added.
BJP's CM candidate BS Yeddyurappa on Sunday said that he will ‘give it in writing’ that the saffron party would win the Assembly elections with an absolute majority and get 125 to 130 seats.
He claimed that there is a strong wave in BJP's favour. "I have been in Karnataka politics for long... I will give it in writing. BJP is winning with an absolute majority the Karnataka elections. You can verify it once the results are out," he told reporters here.
The Congress party is reached out to the Janata Dal (Secular) to help form the government in Karnataka, in an event of a hung assembly, sources have told CNN News18.
The report has also suggested that JD(S)’s HD Kumaraswamy has flown to Singapore and has been negotiating from there.
CM Siddaramaiah had on Sunday said he is open to making way for a Dalit chief minister if the Congress High Command decides so.
To a question on the possibility of a Dalit chief minister, he said, "It is fine if the party decides to have a Dalit chief minister."
Siddaramaiah's statement was seen as a hint that the Congress was seeking an alliance with the HD Deve Gowda-led party, with exit polls predicting a hung House where the JD(S) would emerge as the kingmaker.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday said he is open to making way for a Dalit chief minister if the Congress High Command decides so.
To a question on the possibility of a Dalit chief minister, he said, "It is fine if the party decides to have a Dalit chief minister."
Siddaramaiah's statement came as speculation mounted over post-poll scenarios, with exit polls predicting a hung House where the JD(S) would emerge as the kingmaker.
Setting a record,72.13 percent of Karnataka's over 4.97 crore voters exercised their franchise in the assembly polls yesterday, the state Chief Electoral Officer Sanjeev Kumar said Sunday, as he gave the revisedfigure of the voter turnout, according to a report by PTI.
Election officials had said yesterday that an estimated 70 percent of the electors had cast their votes. Kumar said the voter percentage was the highest since the 1952 assembly polls.
"The voter turnout in the polls broke all records last night. By midnight, the figures showed that it was 72.13 percent," he told PTI.The turnout was the highest-ever in Karnataka since the 1952 Assembly elections, he said. (PTI)
Bengaluru’s voting population is being ridiculed by the entire Karnataka for the low voter turnout of less than 50 percent as compared to the state average of 71 percent. Is urban apathy the only reason for poor show or is there more to it than meets the eye?
While urbanites are usually accused of being lackadaisical, studies show that the turnout in Bengaluru is not actually low but appears to be so due to the bloated voters list. Much before the elections, Citizen Matters, an NGO, had predicted the city would record a poor turnout due to faulty electoral rolls.
