A Karnataka woman gave birth to a baby boy while out to cast a vote at a polling station in Ballari area of Karnataka on Wednesday, officials said today.

According to an official of the Election Commission, the “rare incident” took place when the 23-year-old pregnant woman, who had arrived at a polling booth in Kurlagindi village of Ballari to cast her vote in the Wednesday’s Karnataka Assembly elections, complained of labour pains at the poll booth.

The official said that women officials on poll duty and female voters helped the woman deliver a healthy baby.

Karnataka went to polls on Wednesday for the 224-seat state legislative assembly. The BJP-ruled state witnessed a 65.69 percent voter turnout till 5 pm.

As per data furnished by the Election Commission, Ramanagara recorded the highest turnout of 78.22 percent, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) South limits (parts of Bengaluru city) saw the lowest turnout at 48.63 percent.

In a first in Karnataka, home voting facility was provided for octogenarian and voters with benchmark disability.

Officials said that over 80,000 senior citizens, aged 80 years and above, 19,279 persons with disability and 15,328 essential service personnel in the state had registered for home voting.

Out of these, a total of 94,931 senior citizens and PwDs cast their vote from home, they said.

The poll regulator had introduced the home voting facility post the Covid pandemic for senior citizens aged 80 years and above and those diagnosed with the corona virus.

Karnataka is witnessing a three-pronged battle between the Congress, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal (Secular).

The counting of votes will take place on May 13 (Saturday) with most exit polls predicting a Congress victory with BJP coming in as distant second and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal (Secular) in third place.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday conducted raids in Shaheen Bagh area of Delhi in connection with its ongoing investigation into last month’s case of arson on a train in Kerala’s Elathur.

According to report, searches in the area began on early Thursday morning and are currently underway at various locations at the hideouts of the suspects connected to the case.

On April 2, Shahrukh Saifi, a resident of Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh tried to set afire some passengers on board the Alappuzha-Kannur Executive Express at Elathur in Kerala’s Kozhikode.

Reports at the time said that Saifi doused the passengers with some inflammable liquid and tried to light them on fire which sparked panic aboard the train resulting in the deaths of three people who jumped from the train in a bid to escape.

Saifi, who had himself sustained injuries while carrying out the attack, was later arrested from Ratnagiri by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra police and Central Intelligence.

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The NIA took over the case from the Kerala Police following an order issued by the Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalization (CTCR) division under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The federal anti-terror agency is probing a larger terror conspiracy which, according to the Kerala Police, led to the radicalization of 27-year-old Saifi who was also reportedly influenced by the inflammatory speeches of Islamic televangelist Zakir Naik.

Officials said the agency is also exploring the possibility that Saifi might’ve had handlers and aides who may have been part of this plot and inter-state links are also being examined.

Last week, a district session court in Kozhikode booked the accused Saifi under section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code in a case filed against him by the Railway police.

The accused had told the police that he acted alone and nobody else was involved, however, officials have claimed that Saifi was part of a preplanned conspiracy and not a lone-wolf attack.

Delhi govt vs Centre: Elected government has power over services, L-G duty-bound to comply, says Supreme Court

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The Delhi government scored a major victory today in its arduous power-struggle with the BJP-ruled Centre as the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal-led dispensation, stating that the AAP regime has legislative and executive power over services— including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), except law and order and land—and the Lieutenant Governor (L-G) is duty-bound to comply with the elected government’s decision in this matter.

In a unanimous verdict, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Apex court which comprises of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud along with Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha, ruled that the Delhi government must have control over services and the Lieutenant Governor is bound by its decision.

The bench observed that the Union Territory of Delhi has ‘sui generis’ (unique) character and has legislative and executive power over services and stated that if a democratically elected government’s responsibility towards the legislature and the electorate becomes diluted if it was denied control over its officers and the power to hold them to account.

The Supreme Court bench ruled that the L-G exercise powers under the administrative role as entrusted by the President, however, his executive powers can only extend to matters falling outside the scope of the legislative assembly, adding that the it does not mean administration over entire Delhi otherwise the purpose of having an elected government in the national capital stands defeated.

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The bench further stated that a democratically elected government shall have control over its officers and the power to hold them to account.

It noted that the officers will feel as if they aren’t accountable to anyone if they sense that the elected government has no power over them.

 Observing that even though the Capital Territory of Delhi (NCTD) is not a full-fledged state and remains a federal entity, the top court stressed that it must be ensured that the Centre does not take over the governing power of the states, adding that the Union government’s power over certain subjects of the Concurrent List cannot be such that the functioning of the State is affected.

Earlier, on January 18, the Apex court had reserved its order in the plea filed by the Aam Aadmi Party dispensation following a split verdict by a two-judge bench on February 14, 2019.

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