Karnataka Election 2023 LIVE: Amit Shah Holds Road Show in Gundlupet; Rahul's Rally in Hangal Later Today

Election officials in Karnataka have seized gold and silver jewellery worth Rs 7 crore at a check post in the outskirts of Haveri. As the May 10 Karnataka Assembly election is getting closer the police and election officials have kept a close watch on all the possible means by political parties to influence voters. READ MORE

Union Home Minister Amit Shah holds roadshow in Gundlupet of Chamarajanagar district, Karnataka

The BJP is planning to highlight how the Congress has “failed” to fulfil two major promises in Himachal Pradesh, in order to counter the four “guarantees” being offered by the grand old party in poll-bound Karnataka.

The Congress had promised Rs 1,500 per month to every woman in Himachal Pradesh and the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme for government employees in the state. The party came to power last December by a narrow vote margin, but the BJP is now claiming that both these promises had remained unfulfilled so far. The Sukhvinder Sukhu-led government has completed four months in the state. READ MORE

Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to campaign in poll-bound Karnataka on April 25-26,

In its latest round of electioneering in poll-bound Karnataka, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda will take part in separate roadshows in the southern part of the state on Monday.

Shah arrived in Bengaluru on Sunday night. According to the itinerary shared by the BJP, Shah will fly to Mysuru to pay his obeisance at the renowned Chamundeshwari Temple. He will then take a helicopter ride from Mysuru to Gundlupet in Chamarajanagar district, and lead a roadshow from 1 pm to 2 pm.

The Home Minister, who was a former BJP chief, will then fly to Sakaleshpura where he will take out another roadshow to boost party cadres from 3 pm to 4 pm.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah offers prayers at Sri Chamundeshwari Temple in Karnataka’s Mysuru.

Ahead of the Karnataka elections, the I-T department conducts raids at two residential premises of former minister and Congress leader Gangadhar Gowda and an educational institution in Belthangady of Dakshina Kannada.

The Lokayukta sleuths on Monday are conducting raid and search operations at residences of government officials across Karnataka for allegedly amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income.

In Bengaluru, raids are being carried out at the residence of the ADGP attached to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) at Yelahanka locality.

According to Lokayukta sources, simultaneous raids are on in Davanagere, Bellary, Bidar, Kolar and other districts.

An FIR has been lodged against National Youth Congress President B.V. Srinivas at the Vidhana Soudha police station in Bengaluru in connection with obstructing the duty of election officers, police said on Monday.

According to the police, Srinivas obstructed election officers when they were conducting search and inspection at the time of a meeting held by him at a hotel on April 23 in Bengaluru.

Srinivas allegedly did not cooperate with the officials and got into an argument with them.

The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) launched a scathing attack on Congress for including its Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi’s name in the star campaigner list for the Karnataka Assembly election. BJP alleged that Pratapgarhi was a close aide of the late gangster Atiq Ahmed.

“Imran Pratapgarhi called Atiq his guru, Congress is appointing such individuals with a criminal background to appease minorities. Atiq Ahmed and Ashraf were his (Imran Pratapgarhi) friends. Imran used to call them brothers… Congress has kept him on the list of star campaigners for Karnataka polls, which shows Congress is in support of criminals and anti-nationals,” said Union Minister and BJP leader Shobha Karandlage. READ MORE

Senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Friday said “Modi factor” would not have an impact in the May 10 Karnataka Assembly polls and expects Muslims to solidly back his party by opting for tactical voting.

In an interview with PTI, the former Chief Minister also said the polls would be mainly fought on local issues and insisted a victory in the southern state would serve as a stepping stone for the Congress in national politics ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. READ MORE

Two “banned-entry” candidates Vinay Kulkarni and G Janardhana Reddy present a picture of a peculiar case in the run-up to the May 10 Karnataka Assembly elections.

While the Congress candidate Kulkarni can’t go to Dharwad, the constituency he is contesting from, following a court-imposed ban, Reddy fielded his wife in Ballari city as he is barred from entry there.

Kulkarni’s wife Shivaleela filed the nomination on his behalf.

On the second day of his two-day visit to poll-bound Karnataka, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will have an interaction with sugarcane farmers and youth, and later address a public meeting in the state on Monday.

At 2 pm, the former AICC president will take part in an interaction with sugarcane farmers at Ramdurg in Belagavi district. He will then leave for Gadag to take part in ‘Yuva Samvaad’ (interaction with youth).

Gandhi will then be in Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s neighbouring constituency of Hangal in Haveri district where he will be addressing a public meeting in the evening. Bommai is contesting from Shiggaon segment in the district.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Saturday put an end to speculations about him being the potential chief ministerial candidate of the party in the poll-bound Karnataka.

Kharge said he is in a capacity to appoint anyone as a chief minister, hence, not interested in staking a claim for the CM post. “I am not the aspirant for Karnataka chief ministership, I appoint chief ministers,” he said at the India Today’s event Karnataka Roundtable 2023. READ MORE

Ahead of assembly elections in Karnataka slated for May 10, 2023, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate Shankar Dasar, has a rather peculiar detail to mention in his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission. The 39-year-old politician has mentioned having “two wives”, who are twin sisters. Dasar has also mentioned that he has five kids with them both. READ MORE

Unlike his father JDS supremo HD Deve Gowda, HD Kumaraswamy is a cricket fan. He is good at facing slog overs and with the all-important Karnataka assembly elections and IPL matches happening at the same time, “slog” seems to be the buzzword in the state.

Waiting for the two main players BJP and Congress to decide all their candidates and fielding some of the powerful ones who have missed the bus on JDS ticket has been an old trick of the Gowdas. It is a tried, tested, sometimes failed and sometimes succeeded idea. READ MORE

Karnataka Minister Murugesh Nirani, who is contesting the Assembly election from Bilgi constituency on a BJP ticket, has been booked after 963 traditional silver lamps worth Rs 21.45 lakh were seized from the factory staff quarters under Mudhol Police Station limits. READ MORE

Invoking 12th century social reformer Basavanna on his birth anniversary, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and ruling BJP leaders only spoke about the Lingayat philosopher in their speeches but didn’t follow his teachings.

Calling the BJP government in Karnataka the “most corrupt in the country”, he declared that Congress would win 150 seats in Karnataka out of the total 224 in the May 10 Assembly polls, while the “40 per cent BJP government” would get only 40 seats. He was referring to complaints from contractors that the BJP government in the state sought had allegedly sought 40 per cent commission from them for government contracts. READ MORE

To suddenly say Amul is being brought to Karnataka to kill Nandini is “brazen”, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Sunday, as she alleged that the Gujarat-based dairy cooperative had entered the state when Congress was in power in Karnataka. READ MORE