RS polls: Cong refuses to withdraw second candidate from Karnataka, issues whip

June 3, 2022

Bengaluru, June 3: The Karnataka Congress has issued a whip to all its lawmakers asking them to vote for the party’s candidates in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections.

With this, the Congress has shown determination to go ahead with its general secretary Mansoor Ali Khan as the party’s second candidate, even as it has numbers to surely win one.

Opposition Chief Whip Ajay Dharam Singh has asked all Congress MLAs to vote for the party’s candidates during the Rajya Sabha election that will be held at room 106 in Vidhana Soudha between 9 am and 4 pm on June 10.

Of the four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka going to polls, the BJP can win two, the Congress one and the JD(S) none. A candidate will need 45 votes to win.

All three parties have fielded a candidate for the fourth seat despite not having enough votes - Lahar Singh Siroya (BJP), Mansoor Ali Khan (Congress) and Kupendra Reddy (JDS).

Friday is the last day to withdraw nominations.

The JD(S) and the Congress tried playing the secular card against each other: the regional party wants Khan to withdraw from the fray whereas the Congress wants Reddy out of the contest.

“Why should we withdraw our candidate? We have fielded him because we want to win,” Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah said.

When pointed out that the Congress does not have enough numbers to make Khan win, Siddaramaiah said: “Does the BJP and JD(S) have the numbers? We have our votes in tact, including 71 second-preference votes.”

Siddaramaiah said the Congress expects lawmakers to cast conscience votes. “I can’t tell you now who will vote for us,” he said, hinting at the possibility of cross-voting.

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6 UNRWA staffers among 18 killed in Israeli attack on another UN school in Gaza

News Network

September 12,2024

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees says six of its employees are among the at least 18 people killed in a recent Israeli aerial assault on a school in the central Gaza Strip.

In a statement released on Thursday, UNRWA said Wednesday’s Israeli airstrikes targeting the UN-run al-Jaouni school in the Nuseirat refugee camp resulted in "the highest death toll among our staff in a single incident” since the occupying regime waged a genocidal war on Gaza more than 11 months ago.

"Among those killed was the manager of the UNRWA shelter and other team members providing assistance to displaced people," it added.

UNRWA also said the al-Jaouni school, home to around 12,000 displaced Palestinians- mainly women and children, has been hit five times since the Israeli aggression began.

“No one is safe in Gaza. No one is spared,” it emphasized. “Schools and other civilian infrastructure must be protected at all times, they are not a target.”

In an X post, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the deaths demonstrated “very dramatic violations of the international humanitarian law and the total absence of an effective protection of civilians.”

Meanwhile, UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the agency's staff who were killed had been providing support to families sheltering in the al-Jaouni school.

“Humanitarian staff, premises & operations have been blatantly & unabatedly disregarded since the beginning of the war,” he asserted.

Lazzarini further noted that at least 220 UNRWA employees have been killed during the Israeli offensive on Gaza.

The Israeli military claimed that the school had been used by members of the Hamas resistance group to “plan and execute” attacks against the occupation troops.

However, a survivor said the section of the school that was hit by Israel had been “dedicated only to women.”

“All of a sudden there was a huge explosion … Women and children were blown to pieces. We rushed to see our children but found them torn to pieces,” he told Al Jazeera.

Another survivor said she had lost all of her six children in the Israeli attack, adding, “What crime, what wrong did those innocent children do?”

Israel waged its brutal Gaza offensive on October 7, 2023, after Hamas carried out a historic operation against the usurping entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.

So far, the Tel Aviv regime has killed at least 41,084 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 95,029 others.

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