DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2025, LUCKNOW, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES ASSEMBLY POLLS IN 4 OF 12 NEXT YEAR 12 states & UTs, 51 cr voters: After Bihar, SIR next round from Nov 4 Assam excluded for now; EC asks voters to submit forms by Dec 4 West Bengal Kerala Puducherry Uttar Pradesh 51 crore MP VOTERS TO BE COVERED Chhattisgarh Lakshadweep Andaman and Nicobar THEELECTIONCommission(EC) on Monday announced the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 12 states and Union Territories, where all of the registered 51 crore electors would have to submit enumerationformsbyDecember4toremain on the draft roll. All those who cannot be traced back to the last intensive revision of rolls in 2002-2005 wouldberequiredtosubmitdocumentstoestablishtheireligibility to remain on the final list. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BENGAL, TAMIL NADU PUSH BACK PAGE 7 DECEMBER 9 FEB 7, 2026 Poll panel to publish draft electoral list Final electoral rolls to be published Bihar effect: Processes tweaked to flag inclusion, papers only in 2nd stage DAMINI NATH & RITIKA CHOPRA NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 27 FROM A softening of tone on citizenship to several procedural changes, the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in 12 states and Union Territoriesmarksmanypointsof departure from the exercise the Election Commission had notified for Bihar on June 24. Consider the key ones: ■The first major shift comes rightatthestartingline,theenumeration phase, whose purpose and tone are now entirely different. In Bihar, this phase had triggered anxiety among existing electors registered after 2003, the year the ● state’s rolls were last revised intensively, as they were asked to furnish documents proving their age and citizenship to stay on the electoral E EXPLAINED NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 27 UTTAR PRADESH Rajasthan West Bengal, TN, Kerala and Puducherry Assembly polls due in 2026; UP, Gujarat, Goa in 2027; Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh in 2028; Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep do not have Assemblies DAMINI NATH BY UNNY Gujarat Goa CEC Gyanesh Kumar with ECs Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. Anil Sharma BUSINESS AS USUAL 9 STATES, 3 UNION TERRITORIES Tamil Nadu `6.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM SINCE 1932 CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 CJI, SUCCESSOR Chief Justice of India B R Gavai has recommended to the Centre the name of Justice Surya Kant as the next CJI. CJI Gavai is set to retire on November 23. PTI REPORT,PAGE7 ‘Jobs, jobs and jobs… Bihar needs this… PK just a media creation’ P6 SANTOSH SINGH PATNA, OCTOBER 27 “JOBS,JOBSandjobs.”Thatishow RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav describes his priorities, in an interviewwithTheIndianExpressdays after the Mahagathbandhan announced him as its Chief Ministerface. DECISION The announce2025 ment was an BIHAR acknowledgment of how crucial the 35-year-old is to the Mahagathbandhan’s chances,atatimewhenhisfather andRJDchief LaluPrasadisailing andthereishardlyanyotherpan- RAM TEMPLE COMPLEX COMPLETE PAGE 3 Prashant Kishor enrolled as voter in two states — Bengal and Bihar ATRI MITRA, RAVIK BHATTACHARYA & SANTOSH SINGH KOLKATA, PATNA, OCTOBER 27 THE EXPRESS INTERVIEW TEJASHWI YADAV RJD LEADER Bihar face in the alliance. Tejashwi’s stress on employment, in turn, is an acknowledgment by him of the need to put a distance between the RJD under CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PRASHANT KISHOR, poll strategist-turned-politicianwhoseJan Suraaj Party is contesting the Bihar Assembly polls, has his name enrolled in the voter lists of two states — West Bengal and Bihar. InBengal,hisaddressislisted as 121 Kalighat Road, which houses the Trinamool Congress office in Bhabanipur, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Assembly constituency. Kishor had worked with the TMC as a CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 MEETS RUBIO IN KUALA LUMPUR Energy trade principles are applied selectively: Jaishankar swipe at US SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 27 HOURS AFTER he met US Secretaryof StateMarcoRubioin KualaLumpurMonday,External AffairsMinisterSJaishankartook aswipeattheTrumpadministration, saying energy trade is becoming “increasingly constricted”, “principles are applied selectivelyandwhatispreached is not necessarily practised”. His remarks at the East Asia SummitstemfromtheUSimposition of a 25 per cent tariff penalty on India over its purchase of Russian oil in addition tothe25percenttariff ongoods. The US has not imposed penalty tariffs on Europe and China whichhavealsobeenbuyingenergy from Russia. EAM S Jaishankar with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Kuala Lumpur. PTI “Energy trade is increasingly constricted, with resulting market distortions. Principles are CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Trust an expert who knows when to switch the tune Flexi Cap Fund^ for agility Scan to know more or contact your MFD/RIA Benefits of investing in Flexi Cap Fund 1 Flexibility to adjust Market Cap allocation 2 Managed by experts with experience across market cycles 3 Flexible approach helps mitigate risk over the long term ^An open ended dynamic equity scheme investing across large cap, mid cap & small cap stocks. 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