138 Buddha’s Most Powerful Positive Own Words
Over 61 per cent cast vote in third phase of Karnataka polls
Special Correspondent
Major parties field candidates in all seats
Third phase to decide fate of 699 aspirants
Bangalore: Polling in 69 of the 224 Assembly constituencies in Karnataka was by and large peaceful.
With the conclusion of polling, the Chief Electoral Officer, M.N. Vidyashankar, announced the schedule for counting of votes. The election results for all the constituencies are expected to be announced latest by 3 p.m. on Sunday while the preliminary results will be made available by 11 a.m. The counting of votes will commence at 8 a.m. under the overall supervision of a Union Government official for every constituency.
The third phase recorded average polling of 61.3 per cent in the eight districts. Nearly 25 per cent of the people cast their vote in the first three hours. The polling percentage of the first two phases was higher with the first phase recording 66 per cent and the second phase 67.5 per cent compared to the total of 65 per cent recorded in the two-phase 2004 elections. Bagalkot and Dharwad districts recorded 65 per cent turnout each followed by Haveri and Gadag districts with 63 per cent each, Belgaum with 62 per cent, Gulbarga with 60 per cent and Bijapur and Bidar with 57 per cent each.
The political future of 415 candidates from 20 political parties and 284 independents will be decided in the third phase in which more than 1.18 crore voters were eligible to exercise their franchise. The BSP โ had fielded candidates in all the constituencies.
The BSP had done extremely well in the predominantly Sarv Samaj belt in 2008 at the cost of the Congress, BJP and JDS. There are 12 former Ministers in the fray.
BSP seeks arrest of excise official
Special Correspondent
BANGALORE: The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Wednesday urged the State Government to register a criminal case against the Excise Commissioner and arrest him by holding him responsible for the hooch tragedy that claimed several lives in the State.
BSP State unit president Marasandra Muniyappa told presspersons here that besides the Excise Commissioner, other officials of the department responsible for the tragedy should be prosecuted.
โGovernor should quitโ
The Government should initiate action against the deputy commissioners and superintendents of police of those districts from where the illicit arrack had originated, he said.
As the State was under Presidentโs rule, Governor Rameshwar Thakur should own moral responsibility for the tragedy and step down from his post.
Mr. Thakur should emulate Lal Bahadur Shastri who resigned as Railway Minister owning moral responsibility for a minor train accident, he said.
Mr. Muniyappa and the BSP national general secretary Veer Singh demanded a CBI probe into the incident and urged the State Government to pay a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh each to the families of the victims and a government job to the victimโs kin.
A BSP delegation led by Mr. Veer Singh would visit the families of the victims in Devarajeevanhalli in the city on Thursday, Mr. Muniyappa said.
On elections
Mr. Singh said major political parties in the State freely distributed huge quantities of liquor, saris and other articles along with cash to woo the voters.
Despite initiating strict measures, the Election Commission had failed to stop the political parties from enticing voters by distributing liquor and money. The Union Government should order a CBI probe into the electoral malpractice, he said.
Mr. Singh, a Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh, told The Hindu that the BSP’s vote share would be over 10 per cent.
State polls: Final round today
As many as 1.17 crore voters are expected to decide the fate of 699 candidates who are contesting from 69 Assembly constituencies going to the polls on Thursday in the third and final phase of elections in the State.
All arrangements are in place to ensure peaceful polling in eight districts of Hyderabad-Karnatak and Bombay-Karnatak regions: Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri, Belgaum, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Bidar and Gulbarga.
Bijapur dt wired
For the first time, all polling booths in Bijapur district have been equipped with CCTV cameras to help the administration monitor the proceedings from the district headquarters.
Raymond Peter has been appointed special observer for both Gadag and Dharwad districts. The Dharwad district administration has kept a tight vigil on Kalghatagi constituency where mining businessman is in the fray as the Congress candidate.
Removal sought
In Bangalore, complaint with State Chief Electoral Officer was filed seeking the removal of Gurmatkal DySP charging that the police officer was misusing his office to favour Congress in the polls.
Media Apathy
Pre poll and exit poll surveys conducted by media publishes surveys based on their information and perception. In the first survey it was stated that Congress was ahead and following this BJP leader Yedyurappa had demanded ban on surveys. But in the second phase when it came out that BJP was in the lead the party leaders have kept a mum. “BJP applies double standards with regard to media pre poll and exit poll surveysโโ .
Exit polls give different pictures
New Delhi: As the polling concluded for the Karnataka Assembly elections on Thursday, two exit polls presented different scenarios: CNN-IBN projected a hung Assembly, with the Congress as the largest party, and NDTV envisaged the possibilities of a fractured mandate as also of the BJP securing a majority on its own.
The Congress would emerge as the single largest party with 86 to 95 seats in the 224-member House followed by the BJP with 79 to 90 seats and the JD(S) getting 45 โ all far away from the half-way mark of 112 โ said a CNN-IBN exit poll. It said 14 seats would go to โothersโ at the end of the final round of polling.
The exit poll carried out by CNN-IBN, the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) and Deccan Herald had a sample size of 4,348 voters spread across 92 locations.
The NDTV exit poll gave the BJP 95 to 115 seats (three more than the half-way mark) seats, the Congress 55-75, the JD(S) 45-55 and others 10 to 15. It projected the BJP as emerging on the top in the third and final phase of polling, in which votes were cast for 69 seats, with 30-40 seats, followed by the Congress 20-30 and the JD (S) 10-12. โ PTI
Media in general and News papers in particular in India !
Are nothing but views papers and the Media have their own Idea !
They work on Packages In support of Moneyed, Muscle power,Invaders and Mafia !
Depending upon the amount they receive on their packages they keep changing their Idea !
To-day in India !
They are worst than Moneyed, Muscle Power, Invaders and the Mafia !
Congress flays Yeddyurappa
Special Correspondent
BANGALORE: The Congress has criticised the statements made by former Chief Minister,B.S. Yeddyurappa accusing it and the Janata Dal (Secular) of hatching a conspiracy for revocation of the arrack ban in Karnataka.
Addressing presspersons here on Thursday, Congress spokesman K.H. Srinivasa said Mr. Yeddyurappa had made a โfrivolous and mischievousโ statement. Demanding an apology from Mr. Yeddyurappa, the Congress spokesman stated that the former had crossed all limits of โarroganceโ and displayed political immaturity. Pointing out to Mr. Yeddyurappaโs term as Deputy Chief Minister and Chief Minister, Mr. Srinivasa said the BJP leader did not think of the consequences of an arrack ban.
Hooch tragedy brings into focus โbanโ politics
Bageshree S.
Absence of mechanism to prevent illicit liquor manufacture is glaring
Habitual drinkers driven to hooch because of pricey IML
Bangalore: The hooch tragedy that has claimed 125 lives in Karnataka, so far, has set off a blame game among political parties with a focus on the arrack ban implemented by the H.D. Kumaraswamy Government with effect from July 1 last year.
The former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who held the excise portfolio, announced the ban in the 2007-08 budget. In a reaction to the hooch tragedy, he has called it a โconspiracy hatched jointly by the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular)โ to build a case for revoking the ban.
When the arrack ban was thought of, there were apprehensions on two counts. One was that it would lead to a sharp decline in the State revenue that came from arrack sales, which accounted for about 50 per cent of the excise revenue. The second fear was that it would give a fillip to illicit liquor manufacture, considering the higher cost of Indian Made Liquor (IML). After all, the cheapest IML is priced between Rs. 33 and Rs. 38 a bottle as against Rs. 12 per 100 ml for arrack.
The Government, however, went ahead with the ban, saying that it will โlead to better health of our people, but will result in loss of revenue.โ
In his budget speech, Mr. Yeddyurappa said that the ban was He promised that the Government would take โstern actionโ to combat the menace of illicit arrack after the ban was implemented.
According to the Excise Department, the spurt in IML sales compensated for at least a significant portion of the revenue loss. The sale of IML in the five divisions of the State stood at 16,22,066 cartons in June, the month prior to the ban, while it doubled to 32,21,045 in December. By March 2008, the sales went up by another 10 lakh cartons. The sales doubled in all divisions, with Bangalore (which includes Bangalore Urban, Bangalore Rural, Chitradurga, Davangere, Kolar and Tumkur) accounting for the highest sales.
Medium-term fiscal plan for Karnataka (2008-12) says that โdue to increased consumption of IML, the revenue gap has been substantially covered and the revised estimates for the financial year 2008-09 for collections from State Excise are expected to be higher than the budget estimates by about Rs. 1,300 crore.โ
What did not get any attention was, however, the question of illicit liquor. There was no special mechanism put in place to prevent possible spurt in illicit brewing nor regulations worked out to scientifically regulate liquor manufacture and sales.
โThere was a promise that an excise inspector would be posted in every taluk especially to control illicit brewing. But this never happened,โ said M.S. Jayalakshmi of Grameena Mahila Okkuta based in Kolar, a district that has seen many deaths.
On the other hand, habitual drinkers from the poorest sections were driven to illicitly-brewed liquor given the higher price of IML, especially the increase from Rs. 27 to Rs. 33 and from Rs. 32 to Rs. 38 from April 1.
Yellappa, a migrant construction worker here hailing from Yadgir in Gulbarga district, told The Hindu that the Government โdoes not stop people from drinking in bars but asks poor people not to drink.โ This underlines the moral contradiction embedded in the arrack ban.
As a result, the policy, ostensibly meant to help the poor, resulted in draining their meagre income by pushing them to IML or put their health at risk by driving them to illicit liquor.
Hung House forecast
By Sandeep Shastri, Sanjay Kumar and Yogendra Yadav
The Congress is expected to secure around 35 per cent votes, the same as last time. The BJP contesting on its own is likely to secure the same vote share of 30 per cent which it secured in alliance with the JD(U) last time.
Karnataka seems to be headed for yet another fractured mandate.
At the end of four years full of political action and drama, the electorate appears to have given a rather undramatic verdict: if we go by the Deccan Herald CNN-IBN-โCSDS poll, all the three major parties appear to be exactly where they were in 2004 in terms of their vote share.
The Congress is expected to secure around 35 per cent votes, the same as last time. The BJP contesting on its own is likely to secure the same vote share of 30 per cent which it secured in alliance with the JD(U) last time.
Despite many prophecies of doom, the JD(S) appears to have retained its share of 21 per cent votes. Other players like the JD(U), the BSP and the SP do not appear to have made a dent, even allowing for the fact that surveys tend to under-estimate smaller parties.
This is not to say that nothing has changed in the popular preferences. The public mood has undergone many ups and downs. The regional and caste-community equations have undergone a lot of churning. Popular evaluation of issues and personalities has undergone a serious change. Yet the net effect of all these changes tends to cancel each other and leaves all the key players at the same level in terms of popular support.
The last few weeks have seen some major shifts. On the whole, the Congress appears to have lost the substantial lead that it enjoyed at the starting point of the electoral race.
The Deccan Herald CNN-IBN-โCSDS pre-poll survey, which was done before the candidates were announced and the campaign began, had shown that the Congress enjoyed an 11-point lead over the BJP in its share of popular votes. But the post-poll survey for the first two phases and the exit poll for the last phase show that the nomination of candidates and party campaign seems to have changed the picture.
In the first two phases the momentum had swung in favour of the BJP, but the party did not manage to keep its surge in the third phase of elections that took place on Thursday. Compared to where it stood at the beginning of the race, the Congress lost 4 percentage points, 2 to the BJP and one each to JD(S) and others.
The Deccan Herald CNN-IBN-โCSDS survey indicates that while the BJP has gained all over the state in the last one month, its gains are differential and could lead to very different scenarios in different parts of the state.
Bโlore with Cong?
In the Bangalore region, comprising Bangalore urban and rural, the advantage still rests with the Congress despite impressive gains for the BJP. The JD(S) is likely to finish a distant third in this region, with some influence in the rural periphery around Bangalore.
There is good news for the JD(S) from its heartland South Karnataka, which voted in the first phase. As reported in our pre-poll survey, the JD(S) appears set to defy forecasters of doom to retain its ground in this region. The Congress and the JD(S) appear to be locked in a dead-heat in this region. The BJP has registered small gains over the last election, but not enough to bring it close to the top two.
Polls: 61.3 pc turnout in final phase
Bangalore, DHNS:
The curtain falls on to the three-week long election process in the State with the third and final phase of assembly polls held on Thursday recording 61.3 per cent polling, which is slightly lower compared to the voters turnout in the previous two phases.
The third phase held in 66 constituencies spread over nine districts of Hyderabad-Karnataka and Mumbai-Karnataka region, can make or break the quest for power for both the Congress and the BJP.
State Chief Electoral Officer M N Vidyashankar told reporters in Bangalore on Thursday that Bagalkot and Dharwad districts recorded the highest polling percentage โ 65 pc each, while Bidar district, the lowest at 57 pc. In Belgaum, which has a total of 18 assembly constituencies, as many as 62 per cent of the electorate exercised their franchise. The final voting percentage will slightly increase when the complete data is compiled on Friday.
The first phase of the polling held on May 10 in 89 constituencies spread over 11 districts witnessed 66.3 per cent turn out, while 68 per cent polling was recorded in the 66 constituencies in 10 districts that went to polls in the second phase on May 16.
The commission is in the process of receiving form 17A (which records the proceedings in the station) from the presiding officers of all 12,000 polling stations and only after scrutiny of the same, repolling, if any, would be decided, Vidyashankar said.
Thursdayโs poll witnessed the village of Attikete in Ron Assembly constituency in Gadag district boycotting polls. Not even a single vote was cast at the Attikete polling station as villagers stood by their demand that a separate gram panchayat be constituted for them. The polling station had 832 votes.
Vidyashankar said the DC and Zilla Panchayat CEO visited the spot to convince villagers but in vain.
Mixed methodology of post-poll and exit poll
Findings reported here are based on a survey conducted in 75 out of the 224 assembly constituencies in Karnataka using a mixed methodology of post-poll and exit poll.
The post-poll survey of 4,104 respondents was conducted in the constituencies, which went to poll in the first and the second phase, while the exit poll of 4,348 respondents was conducted in those sampled constituencies where elections were held during the last phase.
All the 75 assembly constituencies were randomly selected using the Probability Proportionate to Size (PPS) method.
In each of the selected assembly constituencies, four polling booths were randomly selected using systematic random sampling method.
We preferred conducting post-poll survey in constituencies, which went to poll in the first two rounds of the election, because it enables strict randomisation of respondents, which is not possible in an exit poll situation.
During the post-poll survey, at each location, 30 respondents randomly selected from the updated electoral roll using the systematic random sampling technique were approached for interview. Post-poll survey also enabled strict comparisons since these respondents were also interviewed during the pre-poll survey conducted last month.
Structured interview
All the respondents were interviewed at their home using a structured interview schedule. The respondents were interviewed face-to-face in the language they spoke at home. To facilitate this, the interviewed schedule was translated in three languages, Kannada, Hindi and English.
While majority of the respondents were interviewed in Kannada, there were a few respondents especially in Bangalore who were interviewed using interview schedule in Hindi or English language.
In constituencies, which went to polls in the third phase, we conducted the exit poll at 92 polling booths.
A total of 150 field investigators, mostly students from different universities, carried out the hard work of data collection. All the field investigators were given training in survey research and data collection at workshops held in different regions of the state. A total of five workshops were held to train these field investigators.
We preferred conducting post-poll survey in constituencies, which went to poll in the first two rounds of the election, because it enables strict randomisation of respondents, which is not possible in an exit poll situation.
During the post-poll survey, at each location, 30 respondents randomly selected from the updated electoral roll using the systematic random sampling technique were approached for interview. Post-poll survey also enabled strict comparisons since these respondents were also interviewed during the pre-poll survey conducted last month.
PRESIDING OFFICER SUSPENDED
Gulbarga:
Presiding Officer Gopal Katage and Sectoral Officer P Bharule posted at polling booth number 70 of Thimmapur in Surapur (ST) constituency have been suspended for their failure to conduct the mock polling exercise before the start of the actual polling.
Due to this out of the 70 votes polled the electronic voting machine could record only four and the remaining were not recorded following delinking of the ballot unit and control unit.
The official sources said the discrepancy was noted by the observer and steps were taken to restore normalcy. The two suspended officers were replaced by the stand by trained staff. The matter has been reported to the election commission and the possibility of a repoll is not ruled out.
There have been complaints of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines from about 12 polling booths in the district. As a result of which the poll process was affected for 30 to 60 minutes. The reports of EVMs not functioning have come from Surapur, Shahapur and Aland constituencies. The machines were set right by the technicians