Karnataka government seeks inquiry into bulk voter-deletion requests

Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar has demanded an Election Commission inquiry into what he alleges were bulk submissions of Form-7 applications seeking the deletion of Muslim voters from draft electoral rolls during a Special Intensive Revision. The Karnataka Police have registered three FIRs over bulk submissions: two in Belagavi and one in Bhalki.

Sources cited in the report said more cases could be filed. After a press conference, Shivakumar led his cabinet to the office of the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer in Bengaluru to submit a complaint. The protesting leaders said they would remain there until an investigation was ordered.

The report did not include a response from the Election Commission or the BJP to the allegations. The State government has separately raised concerns about the difference between institutional purchase prices and the maximum retail prices of medicines and hospital supplies. Health and Family Welfare Minister U.T.

Khader wrote to the Union Health Minister on September 23, seeking action. The Karnataka Food Safety and Drug Administration said inspections had found pricing irregularities in 253 drugs. It reported that some medicines were supplied to hospitals at heavily discounted institutional prices while patients were charged close to the printed retail price, with markups ranging from 10 times to more than 52 times procurement costs.

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited announced ₹1.2 crore in compensation for the family of contract employee Manish Karkada, 30, who died in a fire on September 30. A statutory inquiry committee visited the site, while contract workers protested for compensation for the dead and injured. In Yadgir, a dry spell affected 1.55 lakh hectares of cotton.

The district received 377.2mm of rain against a normal 584.9mm between June and September, a 35.5% deficit.