Bengaluru: Revolting against the Centre, both Houses of Karnataka Legislature on Thursday passed four resolutions, against National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) for admission to medical courses, the proposal for One Nation – One Election, delimitation of  Lok Sabha and Assembly Constituencies  based on the new population census and seeking changes in the Forest Rights Act.

With this, Karnataka became the third State, after non-BJP ruled States of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, to seek exemption from NEET and return to the Common Entrance Test (CET) for medical admissions in the State.

The resolutions were passed amid chaos in the Assembly with Opposition members protesting the denial of debate over MUDA scam, which has rocked the State.

The resolution on delimitation, read out by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister H.K. Patil demanded that the Central Government should not carry out delimitation of Constituencies on the basis of a census that is likely to happen in 2026 or thereafter. In case of increasing the number of seats based on the population, it should take into account the 1971 census to decide the number of LS seats and Assembly Constituencies in a State, the resolution said.

On the One Nation – One Election  proposal, the resolution said that it posed a threat to India’s democratic and federal system. The resolution observed that State Legislatures had their own terms of office and a uniform election schedule could undermine States’ autonomy by focussing too much on national issues and ignoring local concerns.

The third resolution, which was moved by Medical Education Minister Dr. Sharan Prakash Patil, cited ‘repeated irregularities’ in the exam and called for amendments to the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, to abolish the NEET system at the national level. The resolution demanded the Centre to exempt Karnataka from this exam and allow admission in Medical Colleges to students on the basis of CET conducted by the State.

NEET not only makes the school education system ineffective, but also takes away the rights of the State Government to admit students in State Government-run Medical Colleges, the resolution pointed out. 

Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre, who read out the fourth resolution on the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Forest Rights Act), 2006, urged the Centre to introduce suitable modifications in the rules for safeguarding the rights of STs and traditional forest dwellers over land and other resources.