The Central Election Commission reviewed the arrangements here today for the May 5 Assembly elections, interacting with political parties and hearing their grievances.

Representatives of outfits, including the ruling BJP, Congress and JD(S), shared their views with Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath and Election Commissioners H.S. Brahma and S.N.A. Zaidi.

The BJP pushed for extension of poll timing from the present 8 am to 5 pm, to 7 am to six pm, and curbs of central government advertisements till the elections, sources said.

JD(S) sought a ban on pre-poll surveys, among others, the sources added.

The poll process in the State is set to begin on April 10, with the issue of notification by the state Governor, paving the way for candidates to start filing their nominations for elections to the 224-member Assembly.

The EC team is slated to hold another meeting of top election officials here tomorrow to discuss threadbare the poll and security arrangements.

Counting of votes will be held on May 8.

While 36 constituencies are reserved for SCs, 15 are reserved for STs in the state.

With less than a month left for the elections to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, the Congress will have to demonstrate before the Karnataka High Court the legality of its action of collecting Rs. 10,000 as party fund from its members who are aspiring for a ticket to contest the elections.

The High Court on Monday ordered issue of notices to the Election Commission of India (ECI), All India Congress Committee president Sonia Gandhi and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president G. Parameshwara on a petition questioning the legality of collection of fund towards Assembly elections.

Justice S. Abdul Nazeer passed the order on a petition filed by V. Shashidhar, a member of the Congress and president of Akhila Karnataka Police Maha Sangha.

The petitioner has sought a direction to the election commission to frame guidelines for preventing collection of such funds by political parties, including the Congress, from ticket aspirants and others. Besides, the petitioner also sought a direction to the ECI to conduct probe by an independent agency into the collection of funds and the manner of selection of candidates by the Congress based on his complaint sent to the ECI through e-mail on April 3.

Meanwhile, ECI counsel told the court that it was an intra-party matter when the court asked him to take notice on behalf of the ECI. However, the court orally observed that 'it is a serious matter'.

AGAINST PARTY’S CONSTITUTION

The petitioner said that he wanted to contest elections from Yelahanka Assembly constituency and submitted an application for party's ticket along with Rs. 100 as application fee and Rs. 10,000 as party fund for Assembly election 2013 for which the party has issued receipt.

He pointed out that there were about 2,500 such aspirants for the 224 Assembly constituencies in the State from whom the party has collected similar amount.

Interestingly, the petitioner claimed that collection of fund from party members towards Assembly elections was contrary to the constitution of the Congress Party and the Rules, as amended with effect from November 17, 2007 by the All India Congress Committee (AICC).

He claimed that as per Article VII of the party’s constitution, each member shall have to contribute to the party fund certain percentage of his income, as prescribed in the rules by the working committee. And as per the rules, each member shall contribute Rs. 1 per month for net monthly income up to Rs. 500, and 1 cent of net monthly income above Rs. 500.

Pointing out that the rules also spell out the manner of distribution of party fund, the petitioner has pointed out that 50 per cent of the total contribution received from members would be reserved for Central Election Fund, 25 per cent for AICC, and 12.5 per cent each for the Pradesh and District Congress Committees respectively.

The petitioner contended that party’s constitution and rules do not permit collection of amount for party fund towards Assembly elections from its members, including ticket aspirants.

Stating that the party was given '100 per cent exemption from payment of income tax,' the petitioner said that though the ECI has guideline for election expenditure, there was lack of guidelines for selection of candidates

MANGALORE: Surviving five years for a Konkani publication is a great achievement. This could be achieved only with support from society, said BastiVamanShenoy, President of World Konkani Centre, Mangalore.

 

He was speaking after releasing 'Manaa Dakun' collections of Editorials written by the Editor of 'Kodial Khaber' Mavinakurve Venkatesh Baliga on Sunday.

 

Writer Padma Shenoy who has written the preface for the book said: The Editorials written by Baliga reflect the turmoil experienced by him at various time. He has a promising future in the field of literature, she said.

 

M Ranganath Bhat, honorary secretary of Canara High School Association also spoke. Editor of 'Kodial Khaber' Konkani fortnightly Baliga, 'Kodial Khaber' Advisory Committee member MR Kamth were also present.

MANGALORE: Keeping in mind possible disruption in supply of water to residents of Mangalore City Corporation with onset of summer, water supply department of the civic body has put on alert its officers to attend to any such eventuality. The drop in inflow in the Nethravathi river during April and May might lead to a situation where water supply to various wards could be disrupted and also lead to hoarding and unnecessary wastage of water.

K S Linge Gowda, assistant executive engineer, MCC water supply department said people could contact the below mentioned officials at any time during the day. In case, the officials concerned do not respond to complaints or concerns, they could contact him on 8147003251, or 9449555511, he said. Netizens may also register their complaints or inform the authorities about water related issues through e-mail by mailing it to neerudooru@gmail.com.

Residents of ward 1 to 10 may contact Abdul Khader ( 9448216005), wards 11 to 15 and ward 60 Amruth Kumar (9964391346), wards 16 to 25 Rajesh (9845866291), wards 31 to 35 Krishnamurthy Reddy (9741635737); wards 36 to 40 Lakshman Poojary ( 9448696487); wards 41 to 45 Shafique Ahmed (9141254448); and wards 46 to 59 may contact Mohammad Ashraf (9141690300). Alternate arrangements will be made where necessary.

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya has got a total remuneration of about Rs 1.5 crore from two overseas companies for the year 2012, as the amount remained unchanged from the previous year.

The total remuneration of $263,700 (about Rs 1.47 crore) for 2012 included $1,20,000 for services rendered as Chairman of a company called Mendocino Brewing Company, the US-listed firm has disclosed in a regulatory filing in Washington.

Besides, Mr. Mallya was paid 89,600 British pounds (about $143,700) by Mendocino’s wholly-owned subsidiary, United Breweries International (UK) Ltd for promoting its products in the foreign territory outside the United Kingdom.

Mendocino, in which India-listed United Breweries Holdings Ltd has 68.1 per cent stake and another group firm United Breweries of America has 24.5 per cent stake, has got exclusive licence to brew and distribute Kingfisher Premium Lager beer in certain foreign markets.

The company operates in the US, Canada and various European markets and has Mr. Mallya as its Chairman. Its main shareholder UB Holdings Ltd (UBHL) is the holding company of all the listed entities of Mallya-led UB group in India.

As non-executive Chairman of UBHL, Mr. Mallya was paid total sitting fees of Rs 1.4 lakh in the fiscal 2011-12, the latest year for which the information has been disclosed as yet.

The UB group is facing difficulties at its aviation venture Kingfisher Airlines for quite some time and it has been grounded since October 2012, primarily due to mounting debt and losses, as also non-payment of staff salaries.

The lenders of Kingfisher have been asking the promoters to infuse their own funds into the business, but no headway has been made despite numerous rounds of negotiations and the banks have now begun the process of recovering their loans.

Incidentally, Mendocino also disclosed in its filing with the US regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it has been given a 'letter of financial support' from UBHL, wherein it has been promised funding on an 'as needed basis' to Kingfisher Beer Europe Limited (KBEL).

KBEL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UB International (UK) Ltd, which is a 100-per cent subsidiary of Mendocino.

'On March 22, 2013, United Breweries (Holdings) Limited issued a letter of financial support on behalf of KBEL, to KBELs accountants, to confirm that UBHL had agreed to provide funding on an as needed basis to KBEL to ensure that KBEL is able to meet its financial obligations as and when they fall due,' Mendocino said.

This Letter of Support would be available till at least March 22, 2014. 'If it becomes necessary to seek UBHL’s financial assistance under the Letter of Support and UBHL is either unable or unwilling to fulfil its commitment to KBEL, or to extend the time period of such commitment, it may result in a material adverse effect on KBEL's, UBIUK's and our financial position and on our ability to continue operations,' it added.

PUNE: Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar has stirred up a hornet's nest with his comments - laced with crass humour ridiculing the acute water scarcity in the state.

Referring to the ongoing hunger strike undertaken by a drought-affected farmer at Mumbai's Azad Maidan, Pawar said, 'He is on fast for the last 55 days. If there is no water in the dam, how can we release it? Should we urinate into it? If there is no water to drink, even urination is not possible.'

The NCP leader, who was addressing a public meeting at an interior village in Indapur tehsil of Pune district last night, went on to poke fun at the power load shedding in the state with his own brand of humour when he said, 'I have noticed that more children are being born since the lights go off at night. There is no other work left then.'

Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and BJP leader Vinod Tawde strongly condemned Pawar's comments, saying it was a cruel joke on the drought-hit population of the state, to which the deputy chief minister had brought shame.

Bhaiyya Deshmukh, the farmer from drought-affected Solapur district who is on fast at Azad Maidan, said Pawar had hurt sentiments of the state with the comment which was 'unbecoming'of the deputy chief minister.