Karnataka delivered its highest voter turnout of 73% in seven decades in the assembly elections Wednesday, eclipsing the previous record of 71.1% in 2018, the best since the first-ever state polls in 1952. Bengaluru Urban was the laggard in the voting stakes with 54.5%, even lower than the 56% polled five years ago.

Exit polls on Wednesday predicted a tight contest between the Congress and the BJP, with most pollsters giving an edge to the grand old party. Total seats are 224.

India Today-Axis My India: Congress 122-140, BJP 62-80, JD(S) 20-25

News 24-Today's Chanakya: Congress 120, BJP 92 seats, JD(S) 12

ABP News-C Voter: Congress 100-112 seats, BJP 83-95, JD-S 21-29

The Republic TV-P MARQ: Congress 94-108 seats, BJP 85-100,  JD-S 24-32

The India TV-CNX: Congress 110-120; BJP 80-90

The News Nation-CGS: BJP 114 seats, Congress 86, JD-S 21

Times Now-ETG : Congress 113, BJP 85 to the BJP, JD-S 23

In the 2018 Assembly elections, BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 104 seats out of total 224, followed by the Congress at 80 and JD-S at 37. There was one independent member, while BSP and Karnataka Pragnyavantha Janata Party (KPJP) had one legislator each.

With no party having a clear majority and as the Congress and the JD-S were trying to forge an alliance, B S Yediyurappa of BJP staked a claim and formed the government. However, it had to resign within three days ahead of the trust vote, unable to muster the required numbers.

Subsequently, the Congress-JD-S alliance formed the government with Kumaraswamy as CM, but the wobbly dispensation collapsed in 14 months as 17 legislators resigned and came out of the ruling coalition and defected to the BJP, facilitating it to come back to power. In the by-polls held subsequently in 2019, the ruling party won 12 out of 15 seats.

In the outgoing Assembly, BJP has 116 MLAs, followed by the Congress at 69, and JD-S at 29.

AT UN, CHINA AGAIN SET TO BLOCK INDIA'S PROPOSAL TO BLACKLIST JEM TERRORIST

China has objected to a proposal by India to blacklist senior Pakistan-based terrorist Abdul Rauf Azhar at the United Nations Security Council. China objected to the proposal from India to add the leader of the Pakistan-based terror organisation Jaish-e Mohammed to the UN Security Council's 1267 ISIL and Al Qaida Sanctions list.

Rauf Azhar, born in 1974 in Pakistan, had been sanctioned by the United States in December 2010.

In August last year, China put a hold on the proposal by India and the US to designate Rauf Azhar as a global terrorist and subject him to an assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

Earlier also, China, an all-weather friend of Islamabad, has placed holds and blocks on bids by India and its allies to list Pakistan-based terrorists.

US PRESIDENT BIDEN TO HOST PM NARENDRA MODI FOR STATE VISIT IN JUNE

For the first time in nine years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to the US for an official state visit from June 21 to 24, where he will be hosted by US President Joe Biden at the White House.

Modi, who will travel to Australia, Japan and Papua New Guinea this month, is likely to meet Biden at least four times within a month, between May 19 and June 22. He will go to Hiroshima (Japan) for the G-7 summit (May 19-21), then to Papua New Guinea for the Pacific Islands’ leaders summit, and Australia for the Quad leaders’ summit. Biden will also visit these three countries at the same time.

This is Modi’s first state visit to the US since he assumed office in 2014. His previous visits to the US to meet then Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump at the White House were not classified as state visits. The last official state visit by an Indian Prime Minister to the US was undertaken by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in November 2009.

State visits are considered to be the highest expression of friendly bilateral relations and are replete with official public ceremonies. In the US, these ceremonies include a flight line ceremony (where the visiting head of state is greeted at the tarmac after landing), a 21-gun salute White House arrival ceremony, a White House dinner, exchange of diplomatic gifts, an invitation to stay at the Blair House (US President’s guesthouse across the Pennsylvania Avenue), and flag street-lining.

ALL EYES ON TWO SUPREME COURT VERDICTS TODAY

The Supreme Court will today pronounce its much-awaited verdicts in two crucial matters: last year’s political crisis in Maharashtra triggered by the rift in the Shiv Sena, and the dispute between the Centre and Delhi government over control of administrative services in the national capital.

Last June, Eknath Shinde and 39 MLAs rebelled against the undivided Shiv Sena leadership resulting in the party's split and collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Shinde later tied up with the BJP to return as the CM. Shinde is one of the 16 MLAs whose disqualification plea is before the top court.

The matters were heard by a five-judge Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices M R Shah, Krishna Murai, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha.

Thursday’s cause list, which is the list of business for the day, shows that both judgments are unanimous and are by the CJI.

Hearing petitions by the Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde groups following the rift in the Sena and subsequent fall of the MVA government, the SC Bench had wondered how it can reinstate the Thackeray government even if it finds the Governor’s action in calling for a trust vote illegal, given that the former chief minister had resigned without facing the floor test — “accepting” that he was in a minority.

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

======================

IMRAN KHAN INDICTED IN TOSHAKHANA CASE; HANDED OVER TO NAB FOR 8 DAYS

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan was on Wednesday sent on an eight-day remand to the anti-corruption watchdog while a sessions court indicted him in a separate graft case, amid violent protests that left at least seven people dead and prompted deployment of the army in three provinces.

The 70-year-old chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was taken into custody by the paramilitary Rangers on Tuesday on the orders of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) by barging into a room of the Islamabad High Court.

On Wednesday, Khan was produced in the Anti-Accountability Court No. 1 presided by judge Muhammad Bashir, the same judge who had convicted former premier Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam in a corruption case of having properties in London.

In its verdict, the court handed over Khan for an eight-day remand to the NAB.

In his statement, Imran Khan told the accountability court that he was fearful for his life. "I have not been to the washroom in 24 hours," he said.

The Pakistan Army warned Khan's supporters against taking the law into their hands and said it showed "patience and restraint and exercised extreme tolerance," not even caring about its reputation, in the larger interest of the country. In a terse statement, the army said that May 9 will be remembered as a "black chapter", referring to the protests "targeting army property and installations." "This group wearing a political cloak" has done what enemies could not do in 75 years, all "in the lust for power," the army said.

It warned that any further attack on the army, or law enforcement agencies, state installations and properties. will be severely retaliated.

FIRST BABIES BORN IN BRITAIN USING DNA FROM 3 PEOPLE

Britain’s fertility regulator on Wednesday confirmed the births of the UK’s first babies created using an experimental technique combining DNA from three people, an effort to prevent the children from inheriting rare genetic diseases. Britain’s human fertilization and embryology authority said fewer than five babies have been born this way in the UK but did not provide further details to protect the families’ identities.

In2015, the UK became the world’s first country to adopt legislation specifically regulating methods to help prevent women with faulty mitochondria — the energy source in a cell — from passing defects on to their babies. The genetic defects can result in diseases such as muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, heart problems and intellectual disabilities. About one in 200 children in Britain is born with a mitochondrial disorder. To date, 32 patients have been authorised to receive such treatment.

For a woman with faulty mitochondria, scientists take genetic material from her egg or embryo, which is then transferred into a donor egg or embryo that still has healthy mitochondria but had the restof its key DNA removed. The fertilised embryo is then transferred into the womb of the mother. The genetic material from the donated egg comprises less than 1% of the child created from this technique.

THE REST

=========

KARNATAKA POLLS OVER, PM MODI IN RAJASTHAN

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday attacked the Congress over the rift between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his former deputy Sachin Pilot, saying the CM doesn’t trust his MLAs and the MLAs don’t trust him.

Addressing a rally at Abu Road, the PM said: “For the last five years, an ugly face of political slugfest has been seen in Rajasthan. Rather than (speaking about people’s interests) there is only a game of looting the (CM’s) chair and saving the chair. What kind of government is this where the CM does not trust his MLAs? What kind of a government is this where the MLAs don’t trust their CM? Within the government, there is a competition to humiliate the government.”

Citing the anniversary of Jaipur bomb blasts on May 13, he said the families of the victims are hoping for justice, “but the Congress government in Rajasthan did what Congress is notorious for, what its history has been notorious for”. “Congress does not leave any opportunity to stand with the terrorist ideology. Due to this thinking, the Rajasthan Congress government fought the Jaipur bomb blasts case weakly,” said Modi.

RAJASTHAN, ANDHRA, ASSAM OPPOSE SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: CENTRE TELLS SC

The Centre Wednesday told the Supreme Court it has received responses from seven states on the issue of same-sex marriage and the governments of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Assam have opposed the petitioners' contention seeking legal validation for such wedlock.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, told a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud that states like Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Sikkim have said the issue needed a "very intense and expansive debate" and they would not be able to submit their responses immediately.

The Centre had, in an affidavit filed in the apex court earlier, said it had issued a letter on April 18 to all states inviting comments and views on the "seminal issue" raised in these petitions.

The bench was hearing arguments for the ninth day on a batch of petitions seeking legal validation for same-sex marriage. The arguments remained inconclusive and will continue on Thursday.

WRESTLERS’ PROTEST: MINOR COMPLAINANT RECORDS STATEMENT BEFORE MAGISTRATE

The lone minor among the seven female wrestlers, who filed police complaints alleging sexual harassment by Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, has recorded her statement before a magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC.

Last week, the police recorded the statements of the complainants under Section 161 of the CrPC. However, these aren’t admissible in court. “The statements of the other six complainants are yet to be recorded before the magistrate,” a senior police officer said.

On Saturday, one of the protesting wrestlers, Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik, made a plea to record the statements of the alleged victims before a magistrate. “Our statements have not been recorded under (Section) 164 and we are waiting for this. The police have been given a deadline to ensure that the statements are recorded… My request is to record our statements as soon as possible, because only then can the case move forward,” she said.

Some of India’s top wrestlers, including Olympic medallists Bajrang Punia and Sakshi and World Championship medallist Vinesh Phogat, have been protesting at Jantar Mantar since April 23. They have said that they will end their protest when Brij Bhushan is arrested under relevant sections.

MADRASAS VIOLATE STUDENTS’ FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS, IMPART INADEQUATE EDUCATION, NCPCR TELLS ALLAHABAD HC

“Education imparted to children in madrasas is not adequate or comprehensive”, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has said in a strongly worded affidavit filed before the Allahabad High Court in connection with a matter regarding the use of state funding for religious minority education.

The affidavit was filed by NCPCR counsel Swarupama Chaturvedi last week on a writ petition that sought direction on whether imparting religious education using government funds is unconstitutional. In an order passed in March, the Allahabad HC had directed the central and state governments to file their affidavits in the matter.

The child rights body has, through an impleadment application, sought to assist the court in the matter and claimed that education in madrasas is in blatant violation of the law.

ALUMINA EXPORTS TO RUSSIA SURGE AS OTHERS AVOID SALE TO MOSCOW

The surge in India’s import of Russian crude oil has come under the spotlight, but a sharp pick-up in India-Russia trade in another commodity has largely been under the radar. India’s exports of aluminium oxide, or alumina, to Russia jumped to 2.58 lakh tonnes in April-February of financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from nil in the corresponding period of FY22.

Like in the case of crude oil, shifting global trade flows in the aftermath of Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine is largely behind this trend.

As a major producer of aluminium, which is used in a wide array of industries, Russia is a major alumina consumer.

Following the invasion of Ukraine, Russia was cut off from major supply sources like Australia and Ukraine after both countries decided not to supply alumina to Moscow. In fact, Australia, while banning alumina and bauxite exports to Russia said it was doing so as these were “key components in the manufacture and development of weapons”. In the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Australia has sided with the US and other major Western powers and has participated in various economic and trade-related sanctions designed to punish Moscow.

To fill the gap left by absent alumina supplies from Australia and Ukraine, in came other suppliers such as China and India. The rapid rise in the commodity’s supply to Russia has made it the third-biggest buyer of Indian alumina by volume as well as value, replacing China.

MAURITIUS REFUTES HINDENBURG ALLEGATIONS ON ADANI SHELL COMPANIES

In a boost to the embattled Adani Group, Mauritian Financial Services Minister Mahen Kumar Seeruttun has told the nation’s Parliament that Hindenburg Research’s allegations of the presence of ‘shell’ companies in the Island nation are ‘false and baseless’ and that Mauritius was in compliance with OECD-mandated tax rules.

US short seller Hindenburg on January 24 alleged that billionaire Gautam Adani used shell companies based in Mauritius to manipulate stock prices of his Indian-listed companies.

“At the outset, I wish to inform the House that the allegations of the presence of shell companies in Mauritius are false and baseless,” the minister said. “According to the law, shell companies are not allowed in Mauritius....So far, there has been no breach that has been found,” he said.

DELHI POLICE'S RESPONSE TO PAK ACTOR'S TWEET GOES VIRAL

Pakistani actor Sehar Shinwari got an epic response from Delhi Police after she took to Twitter asking for online link to file a complaint against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Taking to the micro-blogging site, Shinwari on Tuesday tweeted, “Anyone knows the online link of Delhi Police? I have to file a complain against Indian PM and Indian Intelligence Agency RAW who are spreading chaos and terrorism in my country Pakistan. If the Indian courts are free (as they claim), then I am sure Indian Supreme Court will provide me justice.”

Delhi Police was quick and witty in its response. “We are afraid we still do not have jurisdiction in Pakistan. But, would like to know how come you are tweeting when the internet has been shut down in your country!,” it tweeted from its official Twitter handle.

IPL MATCH 55: CSK SCORE A COMFORTABLE WIN OVER DC

Mahendra Singh Dhoni punished Khaleel Ahmed and then marshalled his bowling resources to perfection as Chennai Super Kings comprehensively beat Delhi Capitals by 27 runs to take a giant stride towards play-off, in Chennai on Wednesday.

The talismanic skipper's couple of monstrous sixes in his 9-ball-20 did help CSK get to 167 for 8, which was at least 20 runs above-par on a tacky Chepauk track.

The total was just what Dhoni needed to marshal his bowlers as Delhi Capitals were never in hunt after their batting mainstays David Warner (0), Phil Salt (17) and Mitch Marsh (5) were out by the start of the fourth over

In the end, DC managed only 140 for 8 and their struggles were real as not even 10 fours were hit in the entire innings.

The win took CSK to 15 points (7 wins and a No Result) and one win from two remaining games will certainly seal their place in the last four. As far as DC's campaign is concerned, it is almost curtains with 8 points from 11 games with seven defeats.

INDICATORS

Sensex 61,940 (+179), Nifty 18,315 (+49)

Nasdaq 12,306 (+127) Dow 33,531 (-30), S&P 4,138 (-18)

US$-Rs. 81.99, GBP-Rs. 103.51, Euro-Rs. 89.95, UAE Dhm-Rs. 22.32, Can$-Rs. 61.27, Aus$- Rs. 55.48

GBP 0.79 /US$, Euro 0.91 /US$, Jap.Yen 134.80 /US$, Aus$ 1.47 /US$, Sing 1.32 /US$, Bang Taka 106.59 /US$, Can$ 1.33 /US$, Mal Ring 4.45 /US$, Pak Re 283.49 /US$, Phil Peso 55.68 /US$, Russian Rouble 76.81 /US$, NZ$ 1.57 /US$, Thai Baht 33.61 /US$, Ukraine Hryvnia 36.61 /US$

Bitcoin - USD 27,513, Dollar Index 101.18, Brent Crude 76.69, BDI 1,598

Gold world Spot Price USD/aoz 2,034 India (Rs. per gm 24k/22k) 6,213 / 5,695, Silver (Rs. Per KG) 78,000

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Excellence does not come from believing in excellence, but from constant change, challenge, and improvement - Jeffrey Fry

OFF TRACK

The cricket umpires are getting a lot of flak these days. Especially with the advent of superior technology, where every one in the world except the poor umpire can see things in a slo-mo from various angles, repeatedly.

Recently one umpire was rushing for a match. After a long search for a place to change clothes, he finally located a room with a neatly lettered sign: "Dressing Room, Umpires Only."

As he was about to go in, however, he inspected the sign more closely. Below the printed legend was the same message... written in Braille.