1. Karnataka Assembly Elections: Voters to Decide Between Congress, BJP, JD(S) Today
Karnataka, one of the three states where the Congress is still in power, votes on Saturday, 12 May, with the party trying to retain power in the face of a stiff challenge from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is in power in 20 states, either by itself or along with allies.
The Janata Dal (Secular), the third corner of this three-cornered fight, will be hoping to get enough seats to do what it has done best in the past — punch above its weight.
A forecast of unseasonal rains accompanied by thunder and lightning, especially in southern and coastal parts of the state, is a worry for all parties.
If the forecast comes true, its impact on the turnout — and, therefore, the outcome — will preoccupy all the contenders. Karnataka has 50.6 million eligible voters.
In the last Assembly election in 2013, voter turnout was a high 71.45 percent.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
2. Karnataka Assembly Elections: Polling in RR Nagar Postponed to 28 May
The Election Commission of India on Friday, 11 May, postponed polls to the the RR Nagar Assembly constituency from 12 May to 28 May, following an inquiry into the seizure of 9,564 voter identity cards and other articles in Bengaluru. Counting of votes will be taken up on May 31.
The EC took cognisance of mainly two cases: the impounding of goods worth Rs 95 lakh, which included more than 5,000 T-shirts bearing the Congress candidate’s name and photograph, on 6 May; and the seizure of voter IDs along with 20,700 voter slips, detailed survey papers and other election-related items from a flat in Jalahalli on 8 May.
The EC observed that the current electoral process in the constituency had been vitiated on account of unlawful activities of the candidates and political parties and their workers in planning to allure voters through distribution of freebies and illegal collection of voters IDs and other articles.
(Source: The Hindu)
3. Collegium Decides to Reiterate Recommendation of Justice KM Joseph's Elevation to SC to Govt
The Supreme Court Collegium led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra on Friday, 11 May, agreed “in principle” to reiterate its 10 January recommendation to the government to elevate Uttarakhand High Court Chief Justice KM Joseph as a judge of the Supreme Court.
“The Chief Justice and other members of the collegium have, in principle, unanimously agreed that the recommendation for appointment of Mr Justice KM Joseph, Chief Justice, Uttarakhand High Court, as a judge of the Supreme Court should be reiterated,” the signed resolution of the Collegium said, at the end of a closed-door meeting that went on for over an hour.
The government had objected to his appointment, saying he was too junior to become a Supreme Court judge. The Centre had said Justice Joseph’s “comparatively small” parent High Court of Kerala was already “adequately represented” in the apex court and among High Court Chief Justices.
When the collegium sends the file back, the government will have to accept the recommendation.
(Source: The Hindu)
4. Remembering Mumbai Top Cop Himanshu ‘Hercules’ Roy
Mumbai top cop and former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Himanshu Roy shot himself with his service revolver at his south Mumbai residence on Friday, 11 May.
Fondly called ‘Hercules Roy,’ his colleagues remember him as a fitness freak, a soft-spoken, sharp, disciplined and bright officer.
He was an IPS officer from the 1988 Maharashtra cadre. He became the Superintendent of Police of Nashik in 1995 and became the youngest SP then.
He was the Commissioner of Police of Nashik from 2004 to 2007, and became the Joint Commissioner Of Police (Crime Branch) in 2009. He was also the Chief of Maharashtra ATS and set up the cyber crime cell and women’s cell of the Mumbai Police.
In his his two-and-a-half-decade-long service in the Maharashtra Police, he played a key role in several high-profile cases.
Read this story on The Quint.
5. Sohrabuddin’s Brother Wants to Become Witness in Encounter Case
Shahnawazuddin Shaikh on Thursday, 10 May, approached a special CBI court in Mumbai, seeking to depose in the trial related to the alleged fake encounter of his brother Sohrabuddin in November 2005.
Tulsiram Prajapati, Sohrabuddin's aide, had told him about being an eyewitness to Sohrabuddin's death and that he feared for his own life, the application filed by Shahnawazuddin said.
The plea, filed before special judge SJ Sharma, sought that Shahnawazuddin be made a witness. He learnt recently that the CBI had failed to include him as a witness and to produce "the material seized from him," the application said.
This "material" was four blank pages signed by Prajapati, who himself died in another fake encounter, it said.
Read the story on The Quint.
6. P Chidambaram's Family Charged Under Black Money Act
The Income Tax Department on Friday, 11 May, filed four charge-sheets against former Union finance minister P Chidambaram's wife Nalini, son Karti Chidambaram and daughter-in-law Dr Srinidhi under the Black Money Act for allegedly not disclosing their foreign assets.
The charge-sheets or prosecution complaints were filed under Section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, 2015, officials said.
Ms Nalini, Mr Karti and Dr Srinidhi have been charged for allegedly not disclosing, either partly or fully, immovable assets like the one at Cambridge in the United Kingdom worth ₹5.37 crore, property worth ₹80 lakh in the same country and assets worth ₹ 3.28 crore in the US, they said.
The charge-sheets claimed that the Chidambarams “did not disclose” these investments to the tax authority as also by the firm co-owned by Mr Karti — Chess Global Advisory – in violation of the black money law.
(Source: The Hindu)
7. IT Searches at Offices of Firm with Links to Deepak Kochhar
The Income Tax Department searched offices of companies connected to Matix Group chairman Nishant Kanodia at several locations on Thursday, 10 May, and Friday, 11 May, in connection with a probe into an investment made by a Kanodia firm in NuPower Renewables, promoted by Deepak Kochhar, husband of ICICI Bank CEO Chanda Kochhar.
The raids, conducted on the firm’s premises in several locations in Kolkata, other parts of West Bengal, and Mumbai, were still underway on Friday night.
Matix Group declined to comment.
Nishant Kanodia is Essar Group patriarch Ravi Ruia’s son-in-law and he owns the Mauritius-based Firstland Holdings that invested ₹325 crore in NuPower between 2010 and 2012.
(Source: Hindustan Times)
8. PM Modi in Nepal: India Offers Rs 100 Crore Aid, Bus Service to Nepal
Saying that Nepal is at the top of India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, 11 May, announced a Rs 100 crore package to develop Janakpur, while invoking mythological links between the two countries.
Later in the day, addressing a joint press conference after his meeting with Nepal’s Prime Minister KP Oli in Kathmandu, Modi said that “India supports a united, prosperous and strong Nepal.”
“Prime Minister Modi and I have just concluded bilateral talks on the entire gamut of our relationship in an atmosphere of warmth and cordiality that characterises the deep friendship and understanding between our two countries,” Oli said, adding that the two sides agreed to address “all matters” by September 19 — Nepal’s Constitution Day.
(Source: The Indian Express)
9. Jinnah a Mahapurush, No Need to Shift Portrait in AMU: BJP MP Savitri Bai Phoole
Amid the controversy over Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s portrait in the students’ union hall of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Savitri Bai Phoole, the BJP MP from Bahraich, on Friday, 11 May, called Pakistan’s founding father a “mahapurush” — a great man — for his contribution to India’s freedom struggle, and said Jinnah must be respected in a secular India.
Calling the issue a “conspiracy,” Phoole alleged that an uproar has been created over the portrait only to divert people’s attention from the problems facing the “bahujan samaj.”
Phoole told The Indian Express that each person who took part in India’s freedom struggle was a great personality, and all of them must be respected.
“He (Jinnah) had taken part in the freedom struggle, he had made contribution in (freedom of) the country and so should be respected. His portrait is there since freedom, and that portrait should not be disturbed,” she said.
(Source: The Indian Express)
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