Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday offered special prayers at the Pashupatinath temple here.

Modi spent around 30 minutes in the temple after paying homage at the Muktinath temple during his two-day visit to Nepal, largely billed as a religious one.

Nepal’s Minister for Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Rabindra Adhikari and other officials welcomed Modi at the Pashupatinath temple, the Kathmandu Post reported.

He is set to meet leaders of various political parties and will be given a lunch reception by Indian Ambassador Manjeev Singh Puri.

He will also attend a civic reception hosted by Kathmandu Metropolitan City before leaving for New Delhi.

Modi arrived in Nepal on Friday. He inaugurated the Janakpur-Ayodhya bus service, a 900 MW Hydropower Project and also announced Rs 100 crore aid to develop Janakpur city.

He also held extensive discussions with his counterpart K.P. Sharma Oli, President Bidhya Devi Bhandari and other government officials to better bilateral ties on Friday when he said: “All misunderstandings with Nepal are over.”

In a politically crucial Assembly election ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha battle, millions voted in Karnataka on Saturday with the ruling Congress as well as the BJP and JD-S claiming they will win hands down.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said he was “very very confident” that the Congress would retain power in the only major southern state it now rules as officials said more than a third of the over 5.06-crore electorate had voted till 1 p.m.

“Overall percentage of voting in 222 constituencies till 1 p.m. was 36.5 and 28 in Bengaluru city,” said the state’s Additional Chief Electoral Officer B.R. Mamatha.

Around 47 per cent voting was recorded in the coastal district of Dakshina Kannada.

“Voting has been peaceful by and large barring a few incidents of some non-functional EVMs, missing voter names and procedural delays,” another official told IANS.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Chief Ministerial face B.S. Yeddyurappa was among the first to vote at Shikaripura in Shivamogga district. He has claimed that the BJP will secure 140-150 seats and that he will invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his swearing in.

Siddaramaiah ridiculed Yeddyurappa after voting on Saturday, saying the BJP leader was “mentally disturbed” and that the Congress was sure of bagging more than 120 seats.

Janata Dal-Secular chief and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, his wife Chennamma and second son H.D. Revanna cast their votes in their hometown Holenarsipura in Hassan district.

“We expect a possibility of forming the government as we have done well to get a majority,” Deve Gowda told reporters.

Many in Bengaluru lined up outside polling centres since 6.30 a.m. to beat the early rush.

Polling in Bengaluru’s Raja Rajeshwari Nagar segment has been postponed to May 28 following the discovery of voter ID cards and cancelled in the city’s Jayanagar seat following the death of BJP contestant B.N. Vijaya Kumar.

In all, voting is being conducted in 26 of the 28 constituencies in the city.

Karnataka has over 5.06 crore electorate, including 2.6 crore men and 2.5 crore women. A total of 15.42 lakh voters, aged 18-19, have registered for the first time.

The highest number of voters (6.03 lakh) are in Bengaluru South and the lowest (1.7 lakh) at Sringeri in Chikkamagaluru district.

Polling is being held in 58,008 stations in 30 districts, with 600 of them dubbed ‘pink booths’, overseen by women personnel. Over 1.5 lakh security personnel have been deployed.

The vote count will take place on May 15.

In all, 2,654 candidates are in the fray, including 219 women. A total of 222 are from the Congress and BJP each, 201 from JD-S, 1,155 Independents and 800 from other national, regional and fringe parties. About 450 contestants are in the battle from Bengaluru.

Siddaramaiah is contesting from Chamundeshwari at Mysuru and Badami in Bagalkot district.

BJP’s Lok Sabha member from Ballari B.R. Sriramaulu, contesting from two seats including Badami and Molakamuru (reserved) seat in Chitradurga district, on Saturday worshipped a cow and visited temples before voting.

JD-S state president and former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy is in the fray from Ramanagara and Channapatna seats. BJP state unit President Yeddyurappa is contesting from Shikaripura in Shivamogga district.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Saturday that he was “very confident” of the ruling Congress retaining power in the southern state by winning over 120 seats.

“We are very confident of retaining power. There is no question of a hung Assembly at all,” an upbeat Siddaramaiah told reporters before voting in Mysuru district, about 150 km southwest of Bengaluru.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Chief Ministerial face, B.S. Yeddyurappa, said earlier that people were with the BJP and that he will form the government by winning 145-150 seats.

“On the evening of May 15, I will go and meet the Prime Minister and invite him for the swearing-in ceremony on May 17,” Yeddyurappa told the media.

Responding to Yeddyurappa, Siddaramaiah said: “Yeddyurappa is mentally disturbed. The Congress will get more than 120 seats.

“Poor people from all communities are with us and the Congress will get a clear majority. There is no doubt, no confusion on this. We will come back to power. We will get more than 120 seats.”

Siddaramaiah, along with his son Yathindra, voted from the Varuna Assembly segment amid cheering outside by scores of supporters.

The Chief Minister is contesting from Chamundeshwari in Mysuru and Badami in Bagalkot district in the state’s northwest region. He has fielded his son Yatindra from his hometown Varuna in Mysuru district.

Brisk polling is taking place on Saturday for 222 of the 224 seats in the Karnataka Assembly.

BJP candidate B. Sreeramulu on Saturday worshipped a cow and then visited temples before voting in the Karnataka Assembly election.

Sreeramulu is contesting from two seats — Badami in Bagalkot and Molakalamuru (reserved) in Chitradurga district.

“He (Sreeramulu) performed ‘gau puja’ at his residence in Ballari for nearly one hour and then visited two temples before casting his vote,” a Bharatiya Janata Party leader told IANS.

Sreeramulu is contesting against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Badami. The 47-year-old was the state’s Health and Family Welfare and Tourism Minister from 2008-11.

He quit the BJP and the cabinet in 2011 protesting against the alleged ill-treatment by the party to his friend, mentor and then cabinet minister and mining baron G. Janardhan Reddy.

He rejoined the BJP and contested the Lok Sabha election in 2014.

The Bengal chief minister’s mildly-worded rebuttal to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi comes against the backdrop of a soft campaign on and off social media that pitches her as the next prime minister.
Mamata Banerjee, the West Bengal Chief Minister who has taken the lead role to shape an anti-BJP front, on Friday responded to Rahul Gandhi’s statement that he was ready to be the Prime Minister if the Congress emerged as the single largest party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Ms Banerjee said Mr Gandhi “is free to give his opinion”.

“But the fact is, in the present situation of the country, the Congress can never have a majority of its own,” the Trinamool Congress chief told a Bengali news channel, according to news agency Press Trust of India.

Instead, Ms Banerjee said, the federal front that she and other regional parties promote, will be “the future”.

“Various regional parties will emerge victorious in their respective states. Federal Front of regional parties is the future. If regional parties come together and form a platform, it would be good for the country,” she said

But could she lead this front of regional parties?

Ms Banerjee, 63, didn’t give a clear answer.

Everybody will work like a “united family” and whatever is good for the country will be done, she said.

Ms Banerjee predicated the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti and the Telugu Desam Party will perform well in the Lok Sabha polls.

She also prophesised neither the Congress nor the BJP would get a clear majority in the Karnataka assembly elections. In such a situation, she added, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s Janata Dal Secular would play the kingmaker’s role. Or even be the king.

“The Congress should have worked more tactfully with HD Deve Gowda, it would have helped them,” she said.

The Bengal chief minister’s mildly-worded rebuttal to Congress chief Rahul Gandhi comes against the backdrop of a soft campaign on and off social media that pitches her as the next prime minister. “Let’s get a Bengali Prime Minister this time,” says a campaign on Facebook by Trinamool supporters.

Trinamool leaders also had earlier spoken how their party boss was prime ministerial material and had the right experience to replace PM Narendra Modi.

It is a pitch that grew louder after Rahul Gandhi’s elevation as party chief in December last. His elevation was a signal for many that Rahul Gandhi would be the Congress face for PM in 2019.

It hadn’t gone unnoticed that Ms Banerjee did not congratulate him then nor for the Congress’s improved performance in Gujarat. She, however, congratulated Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mevani for their poll success.

During her Delhi visit in March when she had advocated making the Akhilesh Yadav-Mayawati combine’s success in defeating the BJP in its stronghold, Gorakhpur, as a template for opposition unity, Ms Banerjee had reached out to Rahul’s mother, Sonia Gandhi, to seek her support.
I told her what the country wants is that there should be a state-wise, one-on-one fight with the BJP… We want the Congress to win Karnataka because the Congress is strong there,” she had then said.

The villagers of Kadadgadde island at Lingasguru Taluk in Raichuru district have boycotted the poll and are gheraoing the Tehshildar and the poll process has literally been stalled.In fact there was no change in situation till 12 pm when reports last came in.
Three staff members of the Panchayat cast their votes on being insisted by the Taluk officer which was resisted by the villagers.The island over the Krishna river has basic infrastructure problems and repeated appeals by the residents have made no impact on the administration.
The villagers have put thorn shrubs on the road leading to the village and have obstructed the path from outsiders entering the village.
In fact the Tehshildar rushed to the village at around 9 am and tried to convince the villagers to vote but they refused to budge and also protested against his action to instruct the Panchayat officials to vote.
Hindusthan Samachar/Manohar Yadavatti

The ruling Congress and the opposition BJP have locked horns to outsmart each other in the Karnataka assembly election on Saturday, with the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) making the contest triangular.

As the only assembly poll being held in the peak summer, wth temperatures soaring, the battle-royal at the hustings has the nation glued to the southern state where the stakes are high for both the national parties whose prospects the JD-S can make or mar as a kingmaker or spoiler in a fractured verdict.

“If the Congress is desperate to retain power defying anti-incumbency, the BJP is impatient to return to power in south India after losing badly 5 years ago, while the JD-S wages a lone battle to play a key role in the new government formation,” a poll analyst told IANS on Friday ahead of D-day.

Single-phase polling will be held across the state in 223 assembly segments, including 36 reserved for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes (STs) candidates. The election in south Bengaluru’s Jayanagar constituency was countermanded following the death of BJP’s candidate B.N. Vijayakumar on May 4.One member is nominated in the 225-member assembly.

A total of 4.97-crore electorate includes 2.52-crore men and 2.45-crore women. They will cast their ballots in 56,696 polling booths across the state amidst tight security, with 45,000 personnel from 585 the central and state forces deployed.

“In all, 2,654 candidates are in the fray, including 219 women; 222 are from the Congress, 222 from BJP, 201 from JD-S, 1,155 Independents and about 800 from other national, regional and fringe parties,” state Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar told IANS after scrutiny and withdrawals on April 27.

With the largest number (28) of assembly seats in a district, Bengaluru will witness a battle of sorts as 449 contestants, including 37 women, are in the race.

Though the Congress returned to power in 2013 after losing the mandate in the 2004 and 2008 elections, it is betting on the ‘performance” of its government, under Siddaramaiah, the only Chief Minister to have completed a five-year term 40 years after the party’s legendary Devaraj Urs in 1978.

“When the votes are counted on May 15, we will know if the Siddaramaiah-led Congress is lucky to beat anti-incumbency and return power as no outgoing party could do over the last four decades,” the analyst said.

As the second among the six southern states to be in power besides Puducherry, the Congress has been sweating out to hold on to Karnataka, as its outcome will decide not only Siddaramaiah’s fate, but also the fortunes of his party’s new president, Rahul Gandhi, who took over the mantle from his mother Sonia Gandhi in mid-December 2017.

“More than Gandhi, the party’s state unit leaders are anxious to win the election at any cost so that they could credit it to him (Rahul) for leading the party to victory and revive its fortunes for the 2019 general elections,” said Pradeep Puranik, a poll pandit in this tech hub.

According to Congress state unit vice-president B.K. Chandrashekar, the ruling party would get 115 seats, which are more than the halfway mark (113) and will retain power.

“Our welfare schemes like Indira canteens, 7 kg free rice per person for every household, free milk to school students and free education to girls up to post-graduation will work in our favour, with large number of women wanting to vote. We are confident of getting majority,” Chandrashekar told IANS.

In contrast, the BJP has pulled all stops to free Karnataka also from the Congress yoke and consolidate its position for its expansion south of the Vindhyas.

The BJP declared its popular Lingayat leader, B.S. Yedduyurappa, as its chief ministerial nominee even before the elections were announced on March 27 although he was responsible for its defeat in the 2013 poll after he left it and formed the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP), which split its votes.

The 75-year-old veteran politician, however, returned to BJP in early 2014, was elected to the Lok Sabha from his home district Shivamogga in the Malnad region and was made its state unit president for leading it in the crucial assembly polls.

Yeddurappa was also the party’s first Chief Minister in south India for three years from May 2008 to July 2011, when he was forced to resign following his indictment by the state’s anti-graft watchdog (Lokayukta) in the multi-crore mining scam that rocked Karnataka for over a decade (2001-11).

“We are hopeful of getting majority due to palpable anti-incumbency against the Congress. We are confident of a decisive mandate to form the government on our own strength and without the support of other parties, as coalitions have failed in the past,” BJP spokesperson Malavika Avinash told IANS.

The BJP and Yeddyurappa were beneficiaries of a ‘sympathy wave’ in the 2008 assembly election after coalition partner JD-S withdrew support to them in November 2007, resulting in President’s rule for six months.

The BJP is also betting on the ‘popularity’ of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the development model of its NDA government at the Centre over the past four years to again upstage the Congress and JD-S this time.

Modi campaigned extensively across the state with 21 rallies over five days from May 1-9 and drew huge crowds with his extempore speeches in Hindi that were translated into Kannada for the benefit of the local people.

The JD-S, on the other hand, has been working overtime to win the poll battle on the plank of being a regional party that alone takes care of the people in the face of national parties letting down the state on all fronts.

“We will be single largest party with more number of seats, followed by the BJP and the Congress. With the help of Independents, we will form the next government, as the people want a local party like ours to be in power this time, as the national parties have deceived them,” JD-S spokesman Ramesh Babu told IANS.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over allegation that BJP leader B. Sriramulu had bribed former Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan seeking an order favouring a mining company owned by G. Janardhan Reddy.

The Congress party, which levelled the charge, also demanded a high level inquiry into the alleged bribery case.

“This is how Modi and Yeddy (B.S. Yeddyurappa) are getting ‘Reddy’ to loot Karnataka. Fortunately, the people of Karnataka will not let that happen,” tweeted Gandhi as he attached a National Herald news report with a headline “Sting videos: Congress alleges BJP’s B. Sriramulu involved in bribing then CJI in 2010”.

The news report said: “Alleging that then Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishna gave a favourable order to a mining company owned by G. Janardhan Reddy a day before the CJI retired in 2010, Karnataka Congress claimed on Thursday that Rs 100 crore was paid by Reddy for the order.”

Sriramulu is contesting against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Badami constituency in the May 12 assembly election.

“Just one day before CJI Balakrishnan retired, he passed an order in a case related to Reddy brothers mining company,” Karnataka Congress tweeted quoting state’s working President Dinesh Gundu Rao.

“Now several videos have been released which show how bribe deals were done btw CJI’s son-in-law and Sriramulu/Reddy brothers,” Karnataka Congress tweeted Rao’s statement at a press conference.

“The videos that have surfaced today show how Sriramulu and middlemen Captain Reddy, Balan, Swamiji Rajnish and CJI Balakrishnan’s son-in-law Sreenijan discussed bribe deals in order to get a favourable judgement from SC in the Obalipuram case,” he said.

“Despite supporting corrupt and jailed leaders in their own party, the Prime Minister comes to Karnataka and levels baseless allegations against us.

“This big expose has shown how corrupt Reddy-Sriramulu gang bribed the CJI. Will BJP and PM Modi answer?” Rao said.

Countering Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said incidents of rape should not be politicised, Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said rapes are a political issue and his party would continue to raise them.

Commenting on Modi questioning the Congress for politicising rapes by holding a candle light march, Gandhi said: “Excuse me, atrocities against women, rapes are political issues. Who says it is not a political issue. It is absolutely a national issue.”

“Are you telling me that if India’s women are raped, politicians should not discuss it? It is an issue that is fundamental,” he said during a press briefing here and added that the Congress will keep on raising them.

“The treatment of our women is absolutely an issue. Modi likes to discuss things like sea planes, which is a political issue, I guess… bullet trains.”

Gandhi said Modi is raking up such issues as he doesn’t like to discuss the fundamental issues in Karnataka.

“What are the issues in Karnataka? They are pretty simple. Helping the farmers — we have given Rs 8,000 crore to the farmers. How much money has the Prime Minister given to the farmers of India and that of Karnataka. I want to ask that question.

“He gives Rs 250,000 crore to the richest 15 people in this country. How much has the Prime Minister given (to the farmers)… zero.”

Accusing Modi of not giving “even one rupee” in debt waiver to the farmers, he said: “This is something to be ashamed of. That is another political issue. But Modi doesn’t like to raise it.”

Attacking the Prime Minister on corruption, Gandhi said it’s a fundamental political issue.

“Our Prime Minister comes and says he fights corruption. Well on his stage is Mr (B.S.) Yeddyurappa, his Chief Ministerial candidate, who has spent time in jail for corruption and stealing from the people of Karnataka.”

“On the other side Reddy brothers, who stole as much money from Karnataka as the Congress party gave for MGNREGA — Rs 35,000 crore. They have stolen this much money from your pockets and fleeced you,” he added.

He said Modi should answer why in none of his speeches does he talk about the eight seats he has given to the Reddy brothers.

“Why he doesn’t explain to the people as to why the CBI has become the Central Bureau of Illegal Mining and is being used to protect these people. These are the issues.”

Bribing citizens to vote for a particular candidate is old school. Enticing voters not to exercise their franchise is the new trend that is fast catching up in poll-bound Karnataka. The seizure of 10,000 voter ID cards from an apartment at RR Nagar here on Tuesday afternoon seems to be an indication of this “new craft”.
This is how the racket works: candidates bribe registered voters, who they believe would not vote for them for ideological reasons, in exchange for their electors photo identity cards (EPIC).
The price of EPIC cards varies from place to place. It is just Rs 100 in a Lambani tanda (cluster) in a remote assembly segment of north Karnataka but could go up to Rs 2,000 for slum dwellers in Bengaluru.
“I was approached by supporters of a BJP candidate who asked me if I wanted to get Rs 1,000 for not voting,” Arbaz Khan (name changed), a carpenter in Hebbal, said. “And I said, ‘yes’. Some of other absentee voters in my colony got a pint of whiskey along with cash,” he claimed.