FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | MUMBAI | BHUBANESWAR | LUCKNOW | SILIGURI SIT formed for Vijayan probe ‘We have been victims of terrorism’: Pezeshkian hits back at Trump Page 8 Page 10 BRIEFLY Azamgarh man kills wife, son, priests; shot dead by cops Azamgarh: A man accused of killing his wife, son and two priests was shot dead by police in Azamgarh late Tuesday night. The incident took place in the Ahiraula police station area. According to police, Anand Singh (42) was upset over a puja being performed at his home. On Tuesday evening, he had an argument with his wife, Babita (40), over the issue after which he shot her and two priests dead with his licensed rifle. Singh then locked himself in a room with his three children and threatened to kill them. Police thereafter surrounded the house and started negotiations. At around 1 a.m, he allegedly shot his 9-year-old son. Police then stormed the house, rescued the other two children and killed Singh. PERSPECTIVE Ten years on, UPI has sent the bill Page 7 STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE The Supreme Court on Wednesday referred to a five-judge Constitution Bench a batch of petitions challenging the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Act, 2023, after a two-judge bench delivered a split verdict on whether the challenge required consideration by a larger bench. The judges, Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, directed that the matter be placed before Chief Justice of India Surya Kant for constitution of an appropriate bench to consider the challenge to the 2023 law. The enactment replaced the arrangement prescribed by the Supreme Court in its 2023 judgment in Anoop Baranwal, under which the selection of the CEC and ECs were to be made by a committee comprising the Prime Minister, New Delhi, 23 September T he Election Commission of India on Wednesday rejected suggestions of a serious internal rift within the poll panel, saying written objections, observations and technical inputs by individual Election Commissioners were a routine part of its functioning and that all major decisions taken over the past year, including those relating to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, had been unanimous. The ECI issued the clarification after The Indian Express reported that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had formally recorded objections at least 14 times over the past 10 months to decisions concerning voter registration, deletion and restoration of New Delhi, 23 September names, changes to Form 6 and the management and security of electoral-roll databases. According to the newspaper’s investigation, some of the objections described measures as “unauthorised” and “illegal”, while the two commissioners also raised concerns over what they perceived as the growing centralisation of electoral-roll systems at the ECI headquarters in Delhi. In a press note issued on Wednesday, the ECI said it all three Election Commissioners were unanimous on the matter. There was no difference of opinion, disagreement or dissent among them. They were all on the same page,” he said “There has been correspondence among the three commissioners on 14 occasions. This is official deliberation... Such deliberations are actually a sign of a healthy democracy. “If the three Election Commissioners do not communicate with each other, do not exchange views or consult one another, and simply keep agreeing with each other, then the Opposition parties say, ‘This is a dictatorship'," he added The BJP leader also challenged the Opposition’s contention that voter deletions during the SIR exercise in West Bengal benefitted the BJP. Citing results from constituencies that witnessed some of the highest numbers of deleted voters, he said the Trinamul Congress had won more such seats than the BJP. Responding to Congress' allegation that the ECI was no longer be functioning as an independent body, Patra said Opposition parties had repeatedly lost elections since 2014 and had subsequently targeted constitutional institutions. functions as a constitutional body under Article 324 of the Constitution, statutory rules and established institutional conventions. It emphasised that the Commission operates as a multi-member constitutional body and that “written notes, observations, technical suggestions and internal checks-and-balances are standard, ongoing practices” intended to ensure transparency, legal compliance and operational rigour. “All actions of ECI have been in accordance of laws and instructions of the Commission,” it said, adding that: “Differing views and observations are a normal part of deliberation in any institution.” The statement came amid growing political scrutiny following the Indian Express investigation, which reported that Sandhu and Joshi had repeatedly raised concerns over decisions involving some of the core functions of the electoral authority, including the addition of new voters, deletion and restoration of names, appeals relating to voters removed during SIR and the custody and security of electoral-roll data. The ECI’s press note did not specifically address the reported objections but maintained that all its actions had been undertaken in accordance with law and the Commission’s instructions. Ahead of the 2027 Assembly election cycle, BJP president Nitin Nabin on Wednesday announced a major organisational reshuffle, appointing in-charges and co-in-charges for 36 states and Union Territories across the country. Several senior leaders have been given charge of more than one state. Newly appointed national general secretary Smriti Irani has been assigned Haryana and Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan leader Satish Poonia has been assigned Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab. New vice president Ram Madhav has been given charge of Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu while the party’s key strategist Sunil Bansal will oversee West Bengal and Telangana. National general secretary Harish Dwivedi has been given charge of Bihar and Karnataka. Vinod Tawde is in-charge of the key state of Uttar Pradesh, with Jagdish Patel, Medha Kulkarni, Pradeep Verma and Anant Ojha as co-in-charges. Tarun Chugh has been assigned Prime Minister Narendra Moid’s home state of Gujarat, with Ajay Mahawar and Gomati Sai as co-in-charges. The names of Mr Tawde for UP, Mr Poonia for Punjab and Mr Chugh for Gujarat were announced last month. The new appointments on Wednesday include former Uttar Pradesh minister Shrikant Sharma as Himachal Pradesh in-charge and Rajya Sabha MP Baijayant Jay Panda for Maharashtra with Amit PARMOD KUMAR New Delhi, 23 September Leader of the Opposition and the CJI until Parliament enacted a law. Rejecting the Centre’s plea for reference to a five-judge Constitution Bench, Justice Datta, referring to earlier Supreme Court judgments, said: “Precedents having laid down in unmistakable terms that free and fair elections are a basic feature of the Constitution and that the ECI should be insulated from exclusive executive control in relation to appointments of the CEC and the ECs, what remains is no more than the application of the settled principles of law.” Justice Sharma, however, disagreed and held that the contention that a reference would enable the respondents (the Central government) to reopen issues settled in Anoop Baranwal by bypassing the procedure under Article 145(3) was misconceived. The bench also requested the CJI to consider constituting a permanent five-judge bench for adjudication of pure constitutional issues, observing that references remaining pending for five to 20 years or more did not reflect well on the institution and required urgent attention. Opposition demands Gyanesh Kumar’s removal, seeks Supreme Court intervention over ECI rift STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Misuse of Form 6, misuse of software, tampering with voter lists, decisions without transparency ~ these are all now in front of the country New Delhi, 23 September Opposition parties on Wednesday stepped up their attack on the Election Commission of India and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, demanding his immediate removal and calling for greater scrutiny of the poll panel following a media report that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had repeatedly recorded objections to decisions concerning electoral rolls, voter registration and the management of election data. The political backlash followed an investigation by The Indian Express which reported that Mr Sandhu and Mr Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over a 10-month period to decisions and orders which, according to the report, they MALLIKARJUN KHARGE, CONGRESS PRESIDENT said had been taken without their knowledge or approval. The developments prompted demands from several Opposition parties for Mr Kumar’s resignation or removal, with some leaders also urging Parliament to initiate proceedings against him and calling upon the Supreme Court to take suo motu cognisance of the reported differences within the constitutional body. Congress president and BJP effects major organisational reshuffle, Nabin appoints in-charges for 36 states/UTs New Delhi, 23 September Page 12 CEC-EC selection law challenge heads to Constitution Bench STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE VIBHA SHARMA Mirabai Chanu ends Asian Games medal drought with 49kg silver Under-fire ECI says no rift, unanimous on decisions BJP defends poll panel , says internal deliberations sign of healthy democracy Amid the escalating political row over reported dissent among members of the Election Commission of India (ECI) during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, the BJP on Wednesday defended the poll panel, calling internal deliberations the sign of a healthy democracy. Addressing the media, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra also attacked the Opposition, particularly the Congress, alleging that after realising it could not win elections, its “biggest weapon” was to “kill the institutions of the country”. Referring to the ECI’s official statement on the issue, Mr Patra said the Commission had made it clear that the SIR was ultimately carried out unanimously after official deliberations. “In other words, Thursday, 24 September 2026 SPORTS WORLD NATION | Malviya, Sadanand Shet Tanavade and Kamaljeet Sehrawat as co-in-charges. Bihar leader Mangal Pandey has been given charge of Assam. National general secretary Biplab Kumar Deb has been appointed Madhya Pradesh in-charge, while Delhi has been assigned to senior leader Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, with former Ladakh MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal and Darshana Jardosh as co-in-charges. For the states headed for Assembly elections in 2027, besides Mr Poonia in Punjab, Mr Tawde in Uttar Pradesh and Mr Madhav in Uttarakhand, former Union minister Bharti Pawar has been assigned Goa and Rajdeep Roy Manipur. Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat are the other two states die to go to polls in the year. In poll-bound Uttarakhand, Mr Madhav will be supported by Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj. According to a separate circular, Uttarakhand MP Anil Baluni will coordinate the communication department while Ashish Aggarwal will be the convener of the media department. The appointments come ahead of strategic meetings in poll-bound states, first in the line being the Uttarakhand BJP Core Group to discuss the upcoming Rajya Sabha election in the state. As many as 11 Rajya Sabha seats are falling vacant, including 10 in Uttar Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand. Additionally, a by-election will be held for a casual vacancy in West Bengal following the resignation of TMC MP Rukmini Mallick. Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said the reported objections had vindicated concerns repeatedly raised by the Congress and other Opposition parties about the functioning of the ECI. In a post on X, Mr Kharge said the Congress and several Opposition parties had for years questioned the fairness of elections and the functioning of the ECI, but their concerns had been dismissed and the Commission had “shut its doors” to them. “Today, the same issue has come to light from within the Election Commission itself,” he said. “Misuse of Form 6, misuse of software, tampering with voter lists, decisions without transparency ~ these are all now in front of the country,” he said. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, recalled that 73 Opposition MPs had moved a removal motion against Mr Kumar in the Rajya Sabha on 24 April 2026. He said Opposition MPs in both Houses could move fresh motions if Parliament were convened for a special session. Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, said the reported controversy amounted to what he termed “vote chori”. “Vote chori is a crime against the Indian people and a direct attack on our Constitution,” Mr Gandhi said. The Trinamul Congress also demanded Mr Kumar’s removal and a court-monitored investigation into the functioning of the Election Commission. Former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee demanded the arrest of Mr Kumar, accusing him of working in favour of the BJP. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also called for the Supreme Court intervention, describing the reported objections by Mr Sandhu and Mr Joshi as “an extremely serious matter”. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) demanded that Mr Kumar step down and called for an immediate halt to the SIR exercise. Jaishankar raises India’s concerns with Rubio over new US law STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE New Delhi, 23 September External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday raised India’s concerns over the Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act (SRIA) with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a meeting in New York. The meeting comes days after Mr Trump signed the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 into law on 18 September. The new law gives Mr Trump broad powers to levy tariffs of up to 100 per cent on the top five purchasers of Russian oil and gas. China and India are among the top two buyers of Russian oil. The bill also extends to Iran’s energy and weapons sectors. The bill is named after the late Senator Lindsey Graham, who passed away in July this year. During the meeting, Mr Jaishankar also discussed the Gulf and Ukraine situations with Mr Rubio. In a post on X, Mr Jaishankar said: “Good to meet @SecRubio of the US #UNHighLevelWeek. Reiterated India’s interests and concerns with regard to SRIA. Also discussed the Gulf and Ukraine situations.” Mr Rubio said in a post on X,: “Great to meet with Indian External Affairs Minister @DrSJaishankar in New York today. Together, we are building on the U.S.-India strategic partnership and coordinating on key regional priorities and upcoming multilateral efforts.” Earlier, addressing a High-Level Ministerial Meeting of Like-minded Global South Countries and Friends on Tuesday in New York, Mr Jaishankar said the Global South may be in the “front row” of global crises but remains in the “ back row” of decision-making, stressing that reforming the United Nations and multilateralism is essential to address its priorities. < “We can see that in conflicts and geopolitical tensions, in disruption of supply chains, in increasing trade barriers, fragmented investment flows, climate shocks, and the fact international norms and rules are under great pressure,” Mr Jaishankar said in his opening remarks during the meeting.