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Breaking News LIVE Updates: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has moved a resolution in the state Assembly and attacked the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre over the three contentious central farm laws against which farmers are agitating in Delhi. The resolution was moved in a one-hour special session convened solely to discuss the farmers’ issue and express solidarity with them. While moving the resolution demanding the immediate scrapping of the new laws, Vijayan said the country was now witnessing one of the most iconic protests ever by farmers in its history. The central farm laws, passed in Parliament, were not only “anti-farmer” but also “pro-corporate”, he alleged and said that at least 32 farmers had lost their lives in the last 35 days of the agitation.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of AIIMS at Rajkot in Gujarat via video conferencing. In Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-supported candidates seem to be winning with over 4,000 seats in the the gram panchayat elections. According to sources, the BJP has so far secured 4,228 seats, followed by the Congress with 2,265 seats, JD(S) 1,167 seats and independents 678 seats. Deputy CM Dr CN Ashwathnarayan said BJP has emerged as winner in the gram panchayat elections. The people are happy with party’s efforts of good governance in the state, he added.

Karnataka State Election Commission officials said counting was on at all 226 centres at the Taluk headquarters by adhering to strict COVID-19 protocol of mandatory wearing of face masks, social distancing and hand hygiene.

Over 1,100 security personnel have been deployed at the counting centres, State Election Commissioner B Basavaraju said. During the election, ballot papers were used in all districts except Bidar, election officials said.

The elections to 5,728 village panchayats had taken place across 226 Taluks of the state for 82,616 seats. They were conducted in two phases on December 22 and 27 where 78.58 per cent voting was registered. As many as 2,22,814 candidates contested the election whereas 8,074 candidates were elected unopposed.

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