www.thestatesman.com | India’s National Newspaper since 1818 FOLLOW US: | @TheStatesmanLtd Pages 16 | ` 5.00 8th Day @thestatesmanltd | KOLKATA | People’s Parliament, Always in Session thestatesman1875 NEW DELHI | MUMBAI | BHUBANESWAR | Evolve Navigating the depths of unknown terrain LUCKNOW | SILIGURI | 27 September 2026 S P O RT S New terror in the town ~ ‘sim swap scam’ Virat Kohli ready to give it all for India in his ‘last’ World Cup Page 16 ECI clarifies on Form 6, other decisions, announces steps to ease SIR process Poll panel extends SIR claims deadline in Delhi and Maharashtra STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 26 September T he full bench of the Election Commission of India met on Saturday and announced a series of measures relating to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls amid the ongoing row over reports of dissent among the Election Commissioners. BRIEFLY Two civilians shot dead in Manipur’s Senapati district: Senapati: Two Naga civilians were shot dead by suspected militants in the Kalenjang area of Manipur’s Senapati district on Saturday, according to police. The bodies of the two victims were reportedly found near Taphou Naga village, with blood stains also reported at the site. The deceased are believed to be members of the Mao and Poumai community. The incident comes a day after four Tangkhul Naga civilians were allegedly killed at Pilong village in neighbouring Kamjong district. The villagers said the attack was launched by Kuki militants from Myanmar belonging to KNA-B. At a meeting of the full Commission held on Saturday, the ECI decided that persons served notices over unmapped records or logical discrepancies during the SIR exercise would not ordinarily be required to appear personally before the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO). Instead, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) would visit their homes and collect the required documents. The Commission said hearings New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has extended the deadline for filing claims and objections in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi and Maharashtra. Under the revised schedule Delhi voters can file claims and objections until 30 October, while the corresponding deadline in Maharashtra has been extended to 12 October. For Delhi, the notice phase and disposal of claims and objections will continue until 30 November, with the final publication of the electoral roll scheduled for 4 December. In Maharashtra, the notice phase and disposal of claims and objections will continue until 10 November, and the final electoral roll will be published on 16 November. The Commission said the changes followed requests from the Chief Electoral Officers of the two jurisdictions. would be conducted only in exceptional circumstances and, preferably, through online mode. To ensure accessibility of the verification process for vulnerable voters, the ECI also directed District Election Officers (DEOs) to organise special camps for people living in night shelters, labourers, poor and homeless persons and others who could face difficulties. On the declaration attached to Form 6 (for enrolment of new voters) for the SIR exercise, the ECI said it had been upheld by the Supreme Court. It clarified that outside periods of SIR, the forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, would continue Yogi Adityanath meets PM Modi ahead of Uttar Pradesh polls STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 26 September Ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Saturday. According to sources, the discussions focused on the Prime Minister’s upcoming programmes in the poll-bound state. The Prime Minister is expected to inaugurate and lay the foundation stones for multiple projects in the state in his next visit. Discussions are also believed to have taken place on preparations for the upcoming elections in the key state. Sharing about the meeting in a social media post, Mr Adityanath wrote: “Today, I had the privilege of a courtesy meeting with the world’s most popular politician, the Honorable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, in New Delhi. Your guidance always gives me renewed energy for the creation of ‘New Uttar Pradesh’ Heartfelt thanks, Prime Minister ji, for providing your invaluable time”. The Chief Minister also met with Union Minister JP Nadda and presented him with a statue of Lord Ganesha. Mr Yogi is also due to meet with BJP National President Nitin Naveen. Sources indicate that they are likely to discuss the Rajya Sabha and MLC elections in Uttar Pradesh. The candidates for six MLC seats are yet to be finalised. The Chief Minister may also discuss the names of potential candidates for the Rajya Sabha. Polling for 10 Rajya Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh are scheduled to be held on 16 October. Nine seats are up for election because the terms of sitting members end on 25 November 2026. One seat has been vacant since 11 September 2026, after BJP leader Dinesh Sharma resigned following his appointment as the Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. to be used. Addressing concerns over its digital systems, the ECI said field officers had role-based access to ECINet in accordance with their statutory powers. It announced that a committee headed by a Senior Deputy Election Commissioner and comprising an independent expert would review the ECINet system to ensure its compliance with the relevant regulations. As part of measures to strengthen internal procedures, it said agendas for all Commission meetings would be circulated in advance and minutes would be issued. It said all directions issued by the Commissioners to officers would have to be “meticulously complied with”. The ECI also clarified that a letter written by one of the Election Commissioners to the Cabinet Secretary was not related to any policy matter concerning the Commission or its IT division, but related to the functioning of an officer on deputation to the ECI. VIBHA SHARMA New Delhi, 26 September During normal years, strong east-to-west trade winds push warm surface water towards Asia and Indonesia, and cold, deep water rises near South America to replace it. During El Niño events, these trade winds either weaken or reverse, allowing warm surface water to move towards the central and eastern Pacific, and in turn disrupting atmospheric circulation and altering risks in the coming months. El Niño is a complex, circular feedback loop where the trade winds and the ocean trigger and reinforce each other. It operates as a circular feedback loop where naturally weakening trade winds allow warm Pacific water to move eastward toward the Americas. This ocean warming reduces wind strength, creating a climate cycle that triggers severe droughts in Asia and heavy rainfall globally. According to reports, the daily SSTs on 21 September in the region where El Niño develops was 3.08 degrees C warmer than the 1991 to 2020 average, which is more NIKHIL VYAS New Delhi, 26 September India has warned Pakistan that continued cross-border terrorism would have consequences, while rejecting Islamabad’s remarks on India and Jammu and Kashmir in a sharp response to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s address to the United Nations General Assembly. Exercising India’s right of reply to the Pakistan Prime Minister’s speech at the UN General Assembly, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, Petal Gahlot, on Friday warned that cross-border terrorism by Pakistan would have consequences, while strongly rejecting Islamabad’s remarks on India and Jammu and Kashmir. The Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, she declared, “is an integral and inalienable part of my country” and “will always remain so”. “But if we must talk about Kashmir, let us turn our attention to Pakistan-occupied Jammu Petal Gahlot, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations, delivers India’s statement during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly on Saturday. IANS and Kashmir,” she said. “Ask the people of Rawalakot about the wanton killings, the brutal violence and the denial of basic rights that they have long experienced,” she said. According to human rights groups, over 90 people have been killed in recent months in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, where the government has been brutally putting down a popular movement against importing people from elsewhere to take over the area and against election manipulation. Ms Gahlot slammed the “bizarre” attack on India by Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the General Assembly, reminding the world of Pakistan’s “horrendous” role in the 9/11 terrorist attack not far from the UN 25 years ago. In her response to Mr Sharif’s vituperations on Friday, Ms Gahlot reminded him that he was but a henchman for “a regime of the Army, by the Army, and for the Army”. “Their puppets may come and go but let us have no illusion who calls the shots,” she said. “They claim to uphold security during the day; they actually carry out terrorism at night,” she said. The mastermind of the 9/11 attack, Osama Bin Laden, “was living right on the doorstep of Pakistan Army’s premier academy”, she said. Bin Laden was killed by a team of US Navy SEALs in Abbottabad, near the Pakistan Military Academy, the premier defence institution. India, Gulf Cooperation Council advance FTA talks, deepen energy and strategic ties STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 26 September India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have reaffirmed their commitment to deepening strategic and economic ties, with the two sides reviewing cooperation under their Joint Action Plan and advancing Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations at a ministerial meeting in New York. The India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Troika Ministerial Meeting was held on Friday on the margins of the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar led the Indian delegation. The GCC was represented at the Troika level by Dr Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain; Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, Secretary General of the GCC; and Adel Al-Jubeir, Minister of State for Foreign As ‘historic, record-breaking’ Super El Niño intensifies, why India should be on watch rainfall and weather patterns across the globe. This is what is happening currently as an exceptionally strong, potentially historic “Super El Niño” rages on and intensifies. Sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific are climbing, with anomalies approaching record levels. According to the Climate Prediction Center (CPC), under the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), there is a high probability that the event will intensify through the winter of 2026–27. India, too, may face significant weather-related Continued terrorism by Pakistan will have consequences: India at UN extreme than any other El Niño ever recorded. India has already experienced a challenging monsoon season in 2026. According to IMD data, the southwest monsoon recorded a 13 per cent shortfall, contributing to dry conditions across large parts of the country. As much as 38 per cent of the districts in the country are “deficient” and 5 per cent “large deficient” as per the IMD. Weather experts believe that the upcoming 2026–27 winter may be warmer and drier than normal in parts of India, with fewer cold-wave days and increased risks of air pollution and agricultural stress. India's Foreign Minister, S Jaishankar, poses for a group photo during a meeting of the India-Gulf Cooperation Council Troika Ministerial, on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly (UNGA81), in New York on Saturday. ANI Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The leaders reaffirmed their joint commitment to building on the achievements of the first India-GCC Joint Ministerial Meeting for Strategic Dialogue, held on 9 September 2024, in Riyadh. The EAM highlighted that India and GCC countries share historically close and friendly ties, underpinned by vibrant trade linkages and strong people-to-people ties. In recent years, the relationship between India and GCC countries has deepened across various spheres, including trade, investment, energy, health, technology and cultural exchanges. A large Indian diaspora resides in the GCC region. Trade and investment between India and the GCC continue to grow, with total trade reaching USD 178.66 billion in FY 2025-26. The leaders reviewed the implementation of the India-GCC Joint Action Plan (JAP) 2024-2028, which was adopted at the first India-GCC Joint Ministerial Meeting for Strategic Dialogue. The JAP envisages joint activities in areas such as political dialogue, security, trade and investment, agriculture and food security, transportation, energy, health, culture and education. They underlined that the diversity of sectors covered by the JAP represented the depth and breadth of engagement between India and GCC countries and appreciated the steady progress made in advancing cooperation in these areas. The leaders welcomed the launch of India-GCC FTA negotiations after the finalisation of the Terms of Reference (ToR) in February 2026. They noted that the FTA is expected to unlock the full potential of trade between India and the GCC upon signing and would be a force multiplier for global good, while facilitating the expansion and diversification of exports and strengthening economic integration between the two sides. Judiciary committed to protecting students’ right to protest: CJI STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Patna, 26 September Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant said on Saturday that the judiciary was committed to protecting the fundamental right of students to protest peacefully on various issues. The remark came at an ‘open house’ interaction with the students of Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) in Patna. One of the students asked CJI Surya Kant about the police’s high-handed response to peaceful student protests. “The judiciary is committed to protecting the fundamental right of the students to protest peacefully,” the CJI said. Patna High Court chief justice V Kameswar Rao and the university’s vice-chancellor Faizan Mustafa also attended the ‘open house’, during which the CJI fielded questions directly from the law students. The event assumes significance in the light of the recent opposition to his scheduled visits to the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR), Hyderabad, and the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bangalore in recent months. According to a press release issued by the University, the initiative was taken by the students, who invited the CJI to have a direct conversation with them. The session was organised by the University's Academic and Debating Committee and Legal Aid Cell. On financial difficulties faced by first-generation lawyers, the CJI referred to the Sarika Tyagi case, in which the Supreme Court had backed the setting up of a Young Lawyers' Professional Assistance Fund. He said that such support should be seen as a structural necessity for the profession’s future and not charity. He also told students that concerns over skyrocketing tuition fees and inadequate scholarships would be addressed. CNLU Vice-Chancellor Prof Faizan Mustafa proposed shortening the five-year law degree to four years, with the final year as a mandatory court apprenticeship to eliminate the separate one-year practice requirement for judicial service exams.