Evening Pulse: Barricades in Delhi, black flags in Shivamogga as Karnataka's vote-roll fight spreads

Since this morning, Karnataka's argument over the voter rolls has run on three tracks: a barricaded road in Delhi, a minister's convoy in Shivamogga and a war of words in Bengaluru. The Congress spent the day saying the right to vote is under threat. The BJP and JD(S) spent it saying the state government should be minding the state. The sting-operation row that led last night's news got no new answers.

Delhi first. The INDIA bloc march left the Connaught Place area in the afternoon but never reached the Supreme Court. Police stopped it at the barricaded Bhagwan Dass Road, where Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav climbed on top of a vehicle, according to live coverage by The Tribune and National Herald. Later on Monday, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court in the names of Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Saugata Roy and others. It alleges large-scale voter deletions and irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of rolls. The march failed to reach its destination, but the opposition now has a case on file, which is what the Chief Justice had advised.

Chief Minister D K Shivakumar spent Monday morning in Chennai. Speaking to ANI there after the CJI declined to meet the opposition, he said the right to vote was the right to life. He told IANS the Election Commission had not responded to the opposition, that the Prime Minister should have called them in, and that meeting the Chief Justice had been the only option left. We flagged this morning that no headcount of Karnataka legislators in Delhi had been published. That is still the case: by this evening no two outlets had confirmed how many walked, or whether the chief minister himself was in the afternoon march.

The sharpest Karnataka voice in Delhi belonged to the state Congress president, B K Hariprasad. He told IANS the Chief Justice "should not behave like" a BJP member and should give justice to everyone. He also accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of acting like a BJP agent and repeated the demand that he resign. A party that governs a state attacking the head of the judiciary is unusual. Neither report we read carried a reply from the BJP or the court.

The opposition answered from Bengaluru. Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy asked how the Congress could seek an appointment with the CJI over what he called political issues, said the party should know the protocol, and called the Delhi protests a waste of time that damaged democracy, ANI and The News Mill reported. Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra had made a similar point on Sunday, arguing that the matter was before the court.

The fight also reached Shivamogga. Youth Congress and NSUI workers showed black flags to Union Minister of State V Somanna near Ashoka Circle on B H Road and tried to stop his car, ANI and PTI reported. Police detained them. Somanna, in the city for a private event and a Railways meeting, questioned whether it was right for a chief minister to take part in such a protest. He urged Shivakumar to concentrate on governance and the drought, and said coming elections would show what voters thought.

Now the loops from this morning. Shivakumar has not named the person Kumaraswamy alleges he met at a Vasanth Nagar hotel. He has not named the five ministers said to have been targeted, and he has not ordered the SIT probe the JD(S) leader wants. Kumaraswamy's reported remarks on Monday were about Delhi, not the sting. None of the sting allegations has been verified.

The BJP state unit has still not given dates for its agitation on SIR, drought and FIRs against its workers. On Tirumala, the Karnataka government has not publicly replied to the objections from TTD board member G Bhanu Prakash Reddy and Jana Sena's Kiran Royal over handing the Pravasi Soudha complex to the state tourism corporation.