Here are the big stories from Karnataka today

Karnataka Today newsletter: Assembly adopts 5 bills amidst dharna by combined Opposition, and more

The Karnataka Legislative Assembly adopted five Bills amidst din created due to a dharna by the combined Opposition members of the BJP and JD(S), who demanded the sacking of Housing Minister B.Z. Zameer Ahmed over his remarks related to the Speaker’s chair. When they refused to get back to their seats, Speaker U. T. Khader proceeded with the agenda of taking up bills for consideration. Four of the five bills were adopted without any discussion.

Meanwhile, the BJP, which suffered an embarrassment in the Assembly last week due to lack of floor co-ordination among its members on whether to boycott or stage a dharna, has now introduced a system of holding a daily meeting to decide its legislature floor plan before commencement of session. About 15 senior members of the party, including State president B. Y. Vijayendra, participated in the meeting convened by Leader of Opposition R. Ashok on December 11.

Karnataka Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy has revealed that, following inauguration of the complete Purple Line from Whitefield to Challagatta, 76,468 passengers utilised the 134 BMTC feeder bus services every day in Bengaluru.

Addressing a query during the winter session of the Assembly in Belagavi, Mr. Reddy said the data indicates 2,012 daily trips of feeder buses connecting different metro stations and areas in the city. Among them, the MF-5 route stood out with the highest ridership, registering 13,949 passengers traveling daily between Central Silk Board and Swami Vivekananda Metro station.

Close on the heels of the disruption in High Court proceedings, a similar cyber attack occurred in court hall 1 of Karnataka State Administrative Tribunal (KSAT) when objectionable videos and pictures were noticed during online proceedings on December 9.

Vineetha P. Shetty, judicial officer, KSAT has filed a complaint with the Central division cyber crime police stating that an unknown person logged into the video conferencing (VC) and uploaded objectionable content to disrupt the proceedings. The proceedings were suspended, and the advocates and parties were asked to appear in person until the VC proceedings are restored.

A woman was allegedly assaulted in Vantamuri village in Belagavi district on December 11, after her son eloped with a girl he was in love with. The girl’s engagement was scheduled on December 11. But she eloped with a boy from the same village on the night of December 10.