oppn parties The Karnataka Conundrum Continues

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  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
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The Karnataka Conundrum Continues

By Sunil Garodia

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The trust vote in Karnataka did not happen today. After an inconclusive debate, the Speaker adjourned the house till 11 am tomorrow. This after a delegation of BJP leaders met the state Governor and requested him to direct the Speaker to hold the vote today. The Governor did ask the Speaker for the same but KR Ramesh Kumar ignored the advice. The BJP has decided to sit on dharna inside the well of the house tonight to register its protest.

The debate was marred by protests from Congress benches over the alleged surfacing of rebel MLA Shrimant Patil in a private hospital in Mumbai. The Congressmen also wanted the vote to be deferred unless a clearer picture emerged on the Supreme Court ruling. But the writing was on the wall for the alliance. A total of 19 MLAs did not attend the house. This brought down the house strength to 205. With just under 100 MLAs, the alliance was sure to lose if voting took place today. Hence, it has been deferred until tomorrow.

At the heart of the issue is whether the Speaker should accept the resignations of the 16 MLAs or whether he should disqualify them. Although it does not make a difference in the numbers game (for, in either case, those MLAs will not vote) but if they are disqualified, they will not be able to become ministers in case the BJP forms the next government. They will have to first seek reelection and then think of being ministers. The Congress-JD(S) alliance wants that the turncoats do not get an immediate reward for their act of deserting the alliance.

But what is happening is sickening. Democracy is being murdered. The Centre should think of amending the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (popularly referred to as the Anti-Defection Law) to clearly define resignation and disqualification and explain situations where each will apply. For, in the present case, the question of disqualification arose only after the MLAs resigned and the alliance issued a whip for them to attend the assembly, inviting disqualification if they chose to ignore the whip. The law must be amended to give preference to events as per dateline. Also, suitable amendments must also be made in the law to provide a time-frame within which the Speaker of any house has to decide on resignations and disqualification matters. 

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