tuesdAY Retail inflation rises to 5.54% in September due to high onion price 13 october, 2026 epaper.morningstandard.in Retail inflation rose sharply to 5.54 per cent on the back of sharp rise in onion, silver jewellery and ginger prices, government data shows facebook.com/TheMorningStandard X.com/TheMornStandard pa k i s ta n 278 men of Imran’s party detained Just within RBI’s tolerance band of 6% Authorities have detained hundreds of members of Imran Khan’s party as a movement in support of the jailed ex-prime minister appeared to falter. A CAPITAL VIEW OF NEWS Page 9 l New Delhi l J8.00 Massive march for democracy Rahul says anyone committed to protecting Constitution has Oppn INDIA bloc’s support Jantar Mantar denotified as designated protest venue E x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and AISA’s Neha Bora during INDIA bloc’s march to Supreme Court | PTI Rahul challenges legality of SIR ‘Didn’t approve or disapprove Form 6’ LoP Rahul Gandhi’s writ petition in the SC challenges the legality of the SIR, alleging largescale deletion of genuine voters. It seeks a direction to the ECI to place on record relevant ECINET and ERONET access logs and the complete file recording the decision to commence the SIR across India | P7 Chief Justice of India Surya Kant said the SC had neither approved nor disapproved the revised Form 6. The court said the ECI cannot claim judicial endorsement for its revised form and that earlier orders (from Bihar SIR case) cannot be cited as approval for a form introduced later | P7 U d aya n K i s h o r e & An u p Ve r m a @ New Delhi OPPOSITION leaders, party workers and members of the public took to the streets of central Delhi in a massive show of strength on Monday as the INDIA bloc intensified its campaign against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging electoral irregularities and demanding an end to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The ‘Chalo Delhi—March for Democracy was later followed ,’ by the filing of a joint petition in the Supreme Court seeking judicial intervention over the allegations. INDIA bloc has demanded Kumar’s resignation, suspension of SIR, a return to ballot papers and poll reforms. Led by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the march began near the Connaught Place–Barakhamba Road junction. Opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule and CPI’s D Raja, joined the mobilisation alongside activists Yogendra Yadav and Nandita Narayan and AISA chief Neha Bora. Police stopped the march at Bhagwan Dass Road about 1km away , with security tightened across central Delhi. The petition, filed later in the day, lists several Opposition leaders as petitioners and challenges alleged irregularities in the SIR process. The SC registry subsequently flagged at least 10 defects in the plea. Addressing a reporters ahead of the march, Rahul said the Opposition’s campaign was a collective effort to defend democratic institutions, rather than a series of separate partyled protests. “There are no par- allel protests, there is one protest,” he said, adding that anyone committed to protecting the Constitution would have the Opposition’s support. “People should continue with the protests as the country cannot be saved in a day or two,” he said. Addressing Kumar, Rahul said, “Resign, turn approver; you have made a mistake but you are not the mind behind the mistake.” He said the campaign would continue until the Election Commission’s leadership changed, the Constitution was upheld and the electoral system was overhauled. On X, Rahul said the INDIA bloc had written to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, who directed them to approach the court through a petition. He urged people across political affiliations to join the campaign. “We want India to believe that India is not scared of anything,” he said, adding that the agitation would continue. Sacked JNU prof booked over sexual harassment Robert E Hall Michael Woodford Nobel I f r a h M u f t i @ New Delhi Congress Lok Sabha MP AngomchaBimolAkoijam has been booked on charges of sexual harassment and insulting a woman’s modesty days after he , was dismissed as a professor from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Delhi Police registered an FIR late Sunday following a complaint by JNU’s Chief Security Officer. Dated October 11, 2026, the FIR was registered at the Vasant Kunj North Police Station under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections. Akoijam, who taught at Centre for Study of Social Systems under the School of Social Sciences, was dismissed with immediate effect on October 9 following an inquiry into sexual harassment allegations against him. He denied the charges in a post on ‘X’ on Sunday . According to reports of the university’s Internal Committee, at least 11 female students filed sexual harassment complaints against him in May this year. The complaints alleged that he invited students to his campus residence on the pretext of meetings and attempted to sexually harass them. Akoijam, however, described the action as a “witch hunt”. The Delhi Police on Monday denotified Jantar Mantar as a protest venue and named Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground, about 4, 21 and 13 kilometres away from Parliament, respectively, as the new designated sites for holding protests and demonstrations in the national capital. According to the order, the Union home ministry had constituted a committee to examine alternative venues for citizens’ right for organising protest and demonstrations in place of the existing “designated site”. “Based on the committee’s recommendations, Jantar Mantar as a protest venue has been de-notified. Three new venues viz Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and CBD Ground, East Delhi have been designated as new venues for organising protest/demonstrations,” the order stated. Criticising the decision, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said, “It is a definite sign of the extreme panic that has gripped the PM-HM duo that the historic Jantar Mantar will no longer be a place where our democracy is given a daily booster dose.” Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) spokesperson Saurav Das called the decision an “assault” on the fundamental right to protest and assemble peacefully . “Why is Narendra Modi scared of Jantar Mantar? The Jantar Mantar belongs to THE PEOPLE OF INDIA. Did the Ministry of Home Affairs consult with the people of India?” he wrote on X, adding that “we do not accept this arbitrary decision.” P3 honours work on managing crises double celebration Deputy Superintendent of Police V Akshay Reddy proposes to his partner after the Dikshant Parade of the second batch of DySP (Probationers) at the Telangana State Police Academy in Hyderabad on Monday | SRI LOGANATHAN VELMURUGAN US economists Robert E Hall and Michael Woodford won the Nobel Economics Prize on Monday for work on models that have helped central banks manage economic shocks | p10 l The consumer price index (CPI) based headline inflation was 4.83 per cent in August. The latest figure is just within the RBI’s tolerance band of 6 per cent. Food inflation rose to 7.74 per cent. Top five states with high inflation are Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Figures for rural and urban areas are 6.08 per cent and 4.88 per cent respectively | P10 PAGES 12 20L voter discrepancies in capital resolved: Delhi CEO E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ New Delhi The Delhi chapter of the Election Commission has resolved around 20 lakh cases out of 33 lakh flagged where voters were issued notices under Special Intensive Revision (SIR) for logical discrepancies or for not being mapped in the 2002 electoral rolls. An official release from the Chief Electoral Office (CEO) said that if any person has any grievance, they are “free to contact any of the 14,947 BLOs, 902 AEROs, 70 EROs, 13 DEOs or the Chief Electoral Officer Delhi”. It said, “We had started a proactive campaign to resolve these issues.” The CEO, Delhi, and the Election Commission are committed to ensuring that no eligible voter is left out of the electoral roll, it said. Special camps are also being held where the booth-level officers (BLOs) assist voters. Such camps will be held to deal with SIR cases on October 18 and October 25. The CEO office assured that all eligible electors who submit Form 6 along with requisite documents will be included in the electoral 2 cr voters in Punjab A total of 2.01 crore voters will be eligible to vote in the Assembly elections in Punjab next year, with the final electoral rolls for all 117 constituencies published after the SIR exercise. The revision included 7.97 lakh new voters, apart from 20 lakh deletions from the draft rolls. The deletions were due to deaths, voters shifting out of the state, voters not found at their addresses, and duplicate entries | P8 rolls of Delhi. Since the publication of electoral rolls of 70 Assembly constituencies of Delhi on August 31, a total of 2,17,391 people have filed Form 6 so far to become voters. The ongoing claims and objections phase of SIR will con- Gubernatorial reshuffle Arlekar goes to TN, Mathur sent to Kerala, Sudha Yadav in K’taka RAJ E SH K U M AR THA K UR @ New Delhi President Droupadi Murmu on Monday appointed governors for six states, naming Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar as the regular governor of Tamil Nadu, transferring Om Prakash Mathur from Sikkim to Kerala and appointing Sudha Yadav as Governor of Karnataka. Braj Mohan Ram has been appointed Governor of Odisha, Dhal Singh Bisen will be posted in Uttarakhand and Dushyant Gautam in Sikkim. Arlekar, who was serving as Kerala Governor, has been in charge of Tamil Nadu following R N Ravi’s transfer as Governor of West Bengal in March. R Vishwanath Arlekar Mathur, a BJP leader and ex-Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan, sucEx minister, ceeds Arlekar in Kerala. He assumed Speaker office as Governor of Sikkim in July 2024. Mathur has held several organisa- A former Speaker tional positions in BJP, including na- and minister of Goa tional vice-president and general secre- Assembly, Arlekar tary and served two Rajya Sabha terms has also served as , from 2008 to 2014 and from 2016 to 2022. Governor of He was also associated with BJP’s elec- Himachal Pradesh and Bihar. During tion management in several states. Ram, a former Lok Sabha MP from his tenure as Goa Jharkhand’s Palamu, succeeds Hari Speaker, the House became the first Babu Kambhampati in Odisha. Sudha Yadav, a former BJP MP from legislature in the Mahendragarh, Haryana, and member country to adopt a of the National Commission for Back- paperless system ward Classes, succeeds Thaawar Chand Gehlot as Karnataka Governor. She entered politics after the death of her husband, a deputy commandant in BSF, in the Kargil war when PM Narendra Modi, then BJP’s Haryana in-charge, proposed her candidature from Mahendragarh. What does religion have to do with firecrackers, asks SC judge S u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday examined whether religious sentiments could justify the use of firecrackers, with Justice Joymalya Bagchi asking, “What does religion have to do with firecrackers?” A bench comprising CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohanawas hearing suo motu proceedings on air pollution in Delhi-NCR, covering firecracker emissions, stubble bur ning and solid waste management. The amicus curiae, Senior Advocate Aparajita Singh, said the religious argument was repeatedly invoked to defend the practice. “Gods would be aghast if they knew that children were suffering and getting sick in their name,” she said. The CJI said the court was mindful of religious sensitivities and favoured persuasion. “We won’t hurt religious sentiments. Best way forward is people should themselves [introspect]. You can take measures to make them aware,” he said. Justice Kant said the bench was not inclined to impose re- Air pollution in city A bench comprising CJI Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohanawas was hearing suo motu proceedings on air pollution in Delhi-NCR, covering firecracker emissions, stubble burning & solid waste management. strictions without ensuring their effective implementation. He suggested encouraging people to celebrate within designated hours and called for pub- lic awareness of the harmful effects of firecrackers. The CJI also suggested restricting highly polluting varieties while promoting less har mful alter natives. He stressed the need to educate people about the varying toxicity levels of firecrackers and encouraged a return to traditional celebrations involving only lamps and sparklers. The bench discussed steps to prevent stubble burning ahead of the pollution season. Justice Bagchi referred to proposals by states to purchase crop residue and explore its commercial use. The CJI said crop residue had become commercially viable and could offer financial benefits to farmers. He stressed the need to develop a market for it. tinue till October 30. The claims and objections received will be disposed of by November 30, and the final voters list will be published on December 4. Over 47 lakh voters out of a total of 1.45 crore were removed from the draft rolls in Delhi in September under the categories of absent, shifted, dead and duplicate (ASDD) voters. Apart from this, notices were issued to 33 lakh voters on the grounds of logical discrepancies related to name, age or other details. The CEO’s office came under criticism for issuing notices for logical discrepancies to such a large number of voters. The list included popular figures like Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, senior BJP leader L K Advani, former vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar and senior advocate Kapil Sibal among others. After a large number of prominent citizens flagged on social media about the commission’s inability to map them, the poll body made corrective moves and launched a special drive to help voters fix the gaps in their electoral details. 20,000-ha area for industrial demand in Noida soon N a mi ta B a j pa i @ Lucknow Noida is planning a 20,000hectare expansion to meet rising industrial demand, attract fresh investment and create jobs. The proposed New Noida project forms part of an infrastructure push targeting five– six lakh direct and indirect jobs by 2030, Noida Authority CEO Krishan Karunesh said. With available urban land nearing saturation, the authority plans to develop New Noida across approximately 20,000 hectares, with land acquisition expected to begin in phases. The plan covers 168 sectors. The state government is also working on policies to permit additional floor area ratio (FAR) in existing Noida, creating scope for further development, official sources said. Connectivity is expected to improve through three proposed metro corridors linking the city with Boraki’s multimodal transport hub, Botanical Garden and Gaur City via Char Murti. Existing links include the Noida-Greater Noida Expressway Yamuna Expressway , , DND Flyway and Eastern Peripheral Expressway . The upcoming fifth groundbreaking ceremony will feature around 120 industrial proposals with potential investments o f n e a rly ` 3 5 , 0 0 0 c ro re, Karunesh said. The proposals span data infrastructure, electronics, commercial real estate, logistics and institutional development. express read Bangladesh seeks duty-free access Bangladesh has sought the continuation of preferential market access to India even after its Least Developed Country status ends and sought the removal of curbs on its exports through Indian land ports and withdrawal of anti-dumping duties on jute products & polyethylene terephthalate film. P7