ULB polls: Karnataka High Court quashes plea against govt notification

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday dismissed a batch of petitions challenging state government's notification with regard to reservation of wards for holding elections to the urban local bodies of Shivamogga, Tumakuru and Mysuru Municipal City Corporation.

The court dismissed the petitions on the ground that the State Election Commission has already issued the calendar of events on August 2, and the election process has already been set in motion.

Once the calendar of events has been issued, the court observed that it cannot interfere in the election process in view of Article 2430 of the Indian Constitution. Article 243-O bars courts from interfering in electoral matters.

It further said that it hopes that the government will take necessary steps to frame appropriate rules for reservation of seats in respect of election of local bodies/municipal corporations in accordance with Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act.

Ajitabh case
The High Court has reserved its order on the petition seeking direction to the state government to hand over the case of missing techie Kumar Ajitabh to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The petitioner, Ashok Kumar Sinha, father of Ajitabh had sought for CBI probe alleging that there has been no progress in the case even after eight months.

Ajitabh (29), a city-based software engineer went missing after he had gone to show his car to a prospective buyer. The buyer had approached him through an e-commerce website.