The Congress won an absolute majority in the Karnataka Assembly polls, counting of votes for which was held on May 13. According to Election Commission of India data at 8.35 p.m., the Congress had won 134 seats and was leading in two seats while the BJP had won 64 and was leading in one more. H.D. Kumaraswamy’s Janata Dal (Secular) won 19 seats.
Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that the Congress victory was a mandate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also said that a Congress Legislature Party meeting has been called on May 14.
An emotional D.K. Shivakumar, addressing the media, thanked the party leaders and cadre and hailed the party’s “collective leadership”. He also continued his winning streak since 1989 and retained the Kanakapura seat with a huge margin of 1,22,392 votes. He received 1,43,023 votes against the 20,631 votes polled by his JD(S) rival B. Nagaraju. BJP’s R. Ashoka came third with 19,753 votes.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, thanking the people of Karnataka, said that the power of the people prevailed over the power of “crony capitalists”. He also reassured that his party’s five key poll guarantees will be fulfilled.
Meanwhile, CM Basavaraj Bommai conceded defeat and said that the BJP will do a “detailed analysis”. He also said that his party would make a comeback in the 2024 parliamentary elections.
PM Modi also congratulated the Congress on their victory and thanked the BJP workers in Karnataka.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted, “My sincere gratitude to the people of Karnataka for giving the BJP the opportunity to serve them for so many years. The BJP under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi Ji will continue to strive for the welfare and development of the people of Karnataka.”
BJP wins big in U.P. local body polls, CM Adityanath says win signifies voters’ faith in party
The BJP on May 13 registered a resounding victory in the Urban Local Body polls in Uttar Pradesh, winning all the 17 Mayoral seats and winning or leading a majority of councillor seats in Municipal Corporations, members seats across Nagar Panchayats and Nagar Palika Parishads.
Out of 544 Nagar Panchayat chairman seats, the BJP won 30 and was leading in more than 200 as per the latest data, while it won or was leading in more than 50% of the 1,420 councillor seats in Municipal Corporations.
In the Prayagraj Municipal Corporation, out of 100 seats whose results have been declared, the BJP won 56, the Samajwadi Party 16, independents 19 and the Congress four, the AIMIM and the Bahujan Samaj Party two each.
BJP candidate Bihari Lal Arya became the mayor from Jhansi after winning with a margin of over 83,000 votes. In Prayagraj, BJP’s Ganesh Kesarwani defeated the SP’s Ajay Srivastava by a thumping margin of over 1 lakh votes.
Ajay Singh won the post of Mayor in Saharanpur Municipal Corporation, Girishpati Tripathi won from Ayodhya, Manglesh Srivastava from Gorakhpur, Ashok Tiwari from Varanasi, Pramila Pandey from Kanpur, Prashant Singhal from Aligarh, Harikant Ahluwalia from Meerut, Archana Verma from Shahjahanpur, Sushma Kharwal from Lucknow, Umesh Gautam from Bareilly and Sunita Dayal from Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation.
The SP came second in 10 out of 17 Mayor seats, while in the remaining seven, the BJP defeated the BSP, whose candidates came second, including in Agra Municipal Corporation.
CM Yogi Adityanath thanked the voters for forming a “triple engine government”.
Meanwhile, the SP alleged rigging in counting at various place demanding immediate action by the Election Commission.
Bypolls | AAP wins Jalandhar LS seat; Apna Dal (S), BJD win Assembly seats in U.P., Odisha
Congress turncoat Sushil Kumar Rinku, who joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a few days ahead of the Jalandhar parliamentary byeelection in Punjab, won the election for the AAP by defeating his Congress rival. Rinku, secured 3,02,279, defeating Congress’ Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary (2,43,588 votes) by 58,691 votes. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi got 1,58,445 votes to stay in third place. He was the joint candidate of the SAD and Bahujan Samaj Party. The BJP candidate Inder Iqbal Singh Atwal secured 1,48,00 votes to remain at the fourth spot. The bypoll result came as a jolt for the Congress as Jalandhar parliamentary seat has traditionally been their stronghold.
Meanwhile, in Uttar Pradesh, the ruling BJP-led coalition ended Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan’s over four-decade dominance in Rampur with its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) winning the Suar assembly bypoll by a margin of 8,724 votes. The Apne Dal (Sonelal) also retained Chhanbey (SC) seat in Mirzapur district by trouncing the SP rival by over 9,500 votes. Both the bypolls were held on May 10.
Shafeek Ahmed Ansari of the Anupriya Patel-headed Apna Dal (Sonelal) secured a little over 50% of the total votes polled in the Suar bypoll, according to the Election Commission website. Ansari polled 68,630 votes and his nearest-rival and SP nominee Anuradha Chauhan bagged 59,906 votes. More than 1.35 lakh votes were polled in the by-election. The Bahujan Samaj Party and the Congress did not field candidates on the seat.
In Odisha, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) registered a landslide victory against the BJP in the Jharsuguda bypoll. The election was necessitated following the death of Health and Family Minister Naba Kishore Das. Deepali Das, daughter of the slain leader and BJD candidate, defeated BJP’s Tankadhar Tripathy by a margin of 48,721 votes. Das secured 1,07,198 votes while her nearest rival Tripathy got 58,477 votes. Congress candidate Tarun Pandey trailed at distant third with only 4,496 votes.
198 Indian fishermen released from Pakistani jail
Pakistani authorities released 198 Indian fishermen after being arrested for allegedly fishing illegally in the country’s waters, and handed them over to India at the Wagah border.
The fishermen were released from the Malir Jail in Karachi on May 11 evening. Malir Jail superintendent Nazir Tunio said that they had released the first batch of Indian fishermen prisoners and two more batches would be released in June and July. He also said that 200 Indian fishermen were to be released but two of them died due to illness.
The two deceased fishermen included one Muhammad Zulfiqar who passed away on May 6 and Soma Deva who died on May 9 after prolonged illnesses. Their bodies have been kept in the Edhi Foundation mortuary till they could be flown out to India.
Soma and his nephew were among a dozen Indian fishermen who were arrested at sea nearly four and half years ago.
Faisal Edhi of the Edhi Welfare Trust, which arranged the transportation of the fishermen from Karachi to Lahore via train where they were handed over to Indian authorities at the Wagah border, said some of the Indian fishermen also looked unwell.
Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum General Secretary Saeed Baloch said that under the agreement reached between the two governments, a second batch of 200 Indian fishermen would be released on June 2 and another 100 on July 3.
Baloch said he had a lot of sympathies for the Indian fishermen as the majority of them were just out for a livelihood and did not even realise it when they crossed territorial waters between the two countries.
In brief:
Israel and Palestinian militants unleashed salvos of fire for a fifth day on May 13, with the Islamic Jihad militant group launching dozens more rockets and the Israeli military pounding targets inside the Gaza Strip. There were no immediate reports of casualties in Gaza or Israel but in a reminder of the combustible situation in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli military raided the Balata refugee camp near the northern city of Nablus, sparking a firefight that killed two Palestinians. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the two as 32-year-old Said Mesha and 19-year-old Adnan Araj. At least three other Palestinians were wounded in the raid, the latest of near-daily Israeli arrest operations against suspected militants in the territory.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
