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Karnataka Today newsletter: Bypolls see overall turnout of 76.9% till 5 p.m. in three constituencies, and more

Byelections to three constituencies in Karnataka — Channapatna, Shiggaon and Sandur — went off peacefully on November 13, 2024. By 5 p.m., the State had registered an overall turnout of 76.9%. While Channapatna recorded 84.26% polling, Shiggaon saw 75.07% and Sandur 71.47% turnout.  

More than seven lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in about 770 polling stations across the three Assembly constituencies. A total of 45 candidates are in the fray in these by-elections, which were necessitated after JD(S) leader H. D. Kumaraswamy (Channapatna), former CM Basavaraj Bommai (Shiggaon), and Congress MLA E. Tukaram (Sandur )were elected to the Lok Sabha. 

Meanwhile, some families residing at Dandinpet in Savanur boycotted the polling in Shiggaon for not being given record of occupancy rights to them. The residents said they were residing at Dandinpet for the last 70 years but the Revenue Department had given the land to Anjuman-e-Islam and so they had decided against voting.

The High Court of Karnataka dismissed a petition filed by the Union Bank of India (UBI) seeking a direction to transfer to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the probe being carried out by the State police into the alleged multi-crore financial scam at the State-run Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Welfare Development Corporation.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna, who pronounced the order on November 13, has orally said that he did not accept the interpretation of Section 35 of the Banking Regulation Act, under which the bank had claimed that the investigation has to go to the CBI as the Reserve Bank of India’s statutory circulars mandate probe to be referred to the CBI when bank staff are involved in misappropriation of money exceeding ₹30 crore.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that there is no proposal before the State Government to ease or lift nigh traffic curbs through Bandipur. When pointed out that Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar had made such a statement when he was in Wayanad in Kerala, Mr. Siddaramaiah said the question should be asked to Mr. Shivakumar, and not him.

Mr. Shivakumar had stated that the government would take all possible measures to lift night traffic ban through Bandipur, which had riled wildlife conservationists in Karnataka. They had questioned the Deputy Chief Minister’s stance on the issue and pointed out that even the High Court of Karnataka had upheld the night traffic ban.