The editorial Page: rethink or abandon sir. revelations about eCi take lid off electoral upheaval 8 FriDAY, SEPtEmBEr 25, 2026 Journalism of Courage kolkAtA, lAtE city, 16 pAgES ₹6.00 (₹12 in North East states, ₹20 in Andaman) l www.indianexpress.com dA i ly f r o m : A h m E dA B A d , c h A N d i gA r h , d E l h i , j A i p u r , ko l k AtA , l u c k N o w , m u m B A i , N Ag p u r , pAt N A , p u N E , vA d o dA r A third consecutive victory in pool B, indian women’s hockey team faces hosts japan at the Asian games. TrACK TheSe And More on www.inDianEXPRESS.coM business as Usual By EP UNNY CAsE OvER PROTEsT Asad Rehman New Delhi, September 24 aS THe opposition stepped up its demand for the resignation of Chief election Commissioner Gyanesh kumar and planned to move a motion in Parliament for his removal in the wake of TheIndianExpress report on multiple objections by the two election Commissioners to SIr-related decisions takenwithouttheirknowledge, Leader of opposition rahul Gandhi claimed Thursday that “all elections” were being “rigged” in the country. addressing a press conferenceinnewDelhi,Gandhisaid, “our elections are fundamentally broken.” The “sacred belief ” in the vote, he said, is “dying”. “If tomorrow, the BJP sweeps elections, no one will believe it,” he said. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Express News service leader of opposition rahul Gandhi in new delhi, Thursday. ANil ShArmA nation 2 Pleas in bombay HC CHallenge maHarasHtra s.i.r, seek eleCtion Halt sCpausesNoida DM’scensure, letsrelieffor studentinNsA caseremain inSiDE Pages 4, 7 terror Case: CoUrt nod to 7 foreigners for one-montH travel to meet kin woman raPed at farmHoUse: 2 U.P. PoliCemen, 2 CrPf Personnel Held goa Ceo: Cases of 97 voters Have been ‘ProCessed seParately’ Alok singh & Jatin Anand New Delhi, September 24 Express News service »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Page 5 THe BJP hit back at Leader of opposition rahul Gandhi over his remarks against the Chief election Commissioner at a press conference Thursday, with party spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi defending the election Commission's Special Intensive revision (SIr) process as legally sound and its decision-making as based on majority consensus. Trivedi was responding to the Congress leader’s remarks following The Indian Express report published on Wednesday that two election Commissioners in the three-member election Commission of India (eCI) objected on record 14 times in 10 months to steps taken by the eCI under Chief Divya A & sukalp sharma New Delhi, September 24 bJp spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi in new delhi, Thursday. @SudhANShutrivEd/X election Commissioner Gyanesh kumar — from keeping them in the dark to adding new voters and deleting names. TrivedialsoquestionedThe IndianExpressreport, saying it did not have “even an off-record response from the election Commissioners”. »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘Jantar mantar 2.0’ if CEC does not resign in 48 hours: CJP ultimatum New Delhi, September 24 reVISInGITSorderonGautam Buddha nagar District Magistrate Medha roopam’s plea challenging the September 2 order of the allahabad High Court, the Supreme Court clarified Thursday that it had not stayed the quashing of the detention of Delhi University student akriti Chaudhary under the national Security act, but only paused the High Court’s stricturesagainsttheofficialand the direction to pay Chaudhary rs5lakhfromroopam’ssalary. “after hearing learned Senior Counsel for the parties, this Court is of the opinion that till the matter is heard on merits, the operation of para nos. 27 to 33 of the impugned judgment including award of costs and strictures against the District Magistrate shall remain stayed,”therevisedorderbythe bench of Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice n kotiswar Singh said. Already Delhi’s largest LNG supplier, Washington looks to push oil sale amid West Asia crisis, russia sanctions law New Delhi, September 24 CJp founder Abhijeet dipke, co-conveners Saurav das and Ashutosh ranka in new delhi, Thursday. Amit mEhrA THe CoCkroaCH Janta Party (CJP) on Thursday demanded theresignationofChiefelection Commissioner (CeC) Gyanesh kumarfor“undermining”voter rights and warned of a nationwideagitation,including“Jantar Mantar 2.0”, if he does not step down within 48 hours. The CJP also made three demands. “IfGyaneshkumardoesnot resign within 48 hours, we will start a nationwide protest before coming for a protest in Delhi,” CJP national convener abhijeet Dipke said at a press conferencehere,flankedbycoconveners Saurav Das and ashutosh ranka. If the CeC doesn't resign, “Jantar Mantar 2.0 willdefinitelyhappen”,hesaid. The CJP’s protest against the neeT exam paper leak, whichledtoDharmendraPradhan’s resignation as Union education Minister on July 25, was held at Jantar Mantar in new Delhi. ThiscomesafterTheIndian Express reported that election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EXPRESS special Setback for Suvendu: President a video, unidentified returns ‘Anti-Goonda’ Bill, says girl, closed PoCso overlaps with Centre’s NDPS Act case — then a flip in veeramani probe Arun Janardhanan Chennai, September 24 WHen CHennaI Police decided in February to drop further action in a PoCSo case against granite businessman rVeeramani,investigatorshad a video purportedly showing the sexual assault of a minor girl, had searched the house where it was alleged to have happened,andhadquestioned Veeramani and the woman associated with the property. They had also spoken to domestic workers, a puncture shopoperatorandanemployee of a nearby hospital. The accounts recorded by police had one thing in common: outsiders were allegedly not allowed into the house. businessman r veeramani The girl in the video, police said, could not be found, and theoriginalrecordingcouldnot be retrieved from a DVr. Veeramani denied he was the man in the video. Shanthi, his longtime associate, said the room shown in it was not part of her house. Concluding that there »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Atri Mitra Kolkata, September 24 In a setback to the BJP dispensationinWestBengal,thePresident of India has registered a sustainable objection to Suvendu adhikari government’s ‘anti-Goonda’Billandreturned it for reconsideration after the Centreraisedtheissueofaconflict between the proposed legislation and the narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (nDPS) act, 1985. In its note before returning the Bill, the Central government said, “Section (B) of the proposed Bill, insofar as it includes within the definition of ‘goonda’ a person who commits, attempts to commit, abets, promotes, finances or facilitatesanyoffencepunishable under the nDPS act, 1985, may overlapwiththepreventive-detention framework provided CM Suvendu Adhikari and Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani in Kolkata on Thursday. pArthA pAul reporT pAGe 3 under the PITnDPS act, 1988, whichisaspecificCentrallegislation dealing with preventive detention of persons engaged inillicittrafficinnarcoticdrugs and psychotropic substances.” “The proposed provision may, therefore, create an overlapping or parallel preventivedetention mechanism in re- spect of drug-related activities and may give rise to an issue of repugnancy under article 254 oftheConstitutionofIndia.accordingly, the reference to offencesundernDPSact,1985in Section 2(d)(iii)(B) may be deleted to avoid duplication and overlap with existing Central statutoryframework,”itadded. a senior official of the state administration said, “It is indeed a setback for the government as it wants to implement this act as soon as possible. However,thereisaprovisionto table this Bill again in the assembly after making the necessary changes in the proposedactwhereitisconflicting or overlapping with Central law. after that, it will be sent again for assent of President.” To curb anti-social activities, BJP government introduced the West Bengal Public »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 InreMarkSafterhismeeting Wednesday with external affairsMinisterSJaishankarwho flagged India’s concerns over the new US law to punish russia’senergybuyers,Secretaryof State Marco rubio said the US was“well-positionedtohelpregional partners address their energy security challenges”. The Lindsey o. Graham Sanctioning russia and Iran act, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump last week, authorises the US to impose up to 100 per cent tariffs on russian energy purchasers, including India and China. India depends on importstomeetover88percentof its crude oil needs, and russia currently accounts for nearly half of these imports. a US Department of State statement after the rubio-Jaishankar meeting on the sidelines of the Un General assembly said, “The two also »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 external Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with uS Secretary of State Marco rubio in new york. pti filE E. EXPlainED Choked lanes With the Russia sanctions Bill signed into law, all eyes are now on the US use of its penalising provisions given the energy market situation. The West Asia crisis, which choked supplies via the Strait of Hormuz, has now expanded to Bab el-Mandeb, the other key energy corridor. NsE MAkEs MARkET DEbUT Surging oil prices send markets plunging, bank and insurance stocks hit l Marketmovementsoverlast6months nifty SEnSEX 25,000 80,000 24,500 78,000 24,000 23,500 76,000 23,000 22,500 22,000 23,063.1 22,331.4 74,000 72,000 74,068.45 73,580.54 1 Apr 1 May 1 Jun 1 Jul 1 Aug 1 Sept lAFTER REGIsTERING their BJP’s counter: Congress itself to blame for losses, rahul should know... EC process legally sound if tomorrow, the BJP sweeps elections, no one will believe it: LoP Canhelpour partnersdeal withenergy crisis:Rubio 21 Sept visit jaipur and address a programme to felicitate party councillors and other representatives who won the recent urban local body elections. he will also launch Bjp’s campaign for upcoming panchayat elections from dadiya. Opposition plans motion for CEC’s removal, rahul says faith in polls ‘dying’, being rigged AFTER TRUMP sIGNs sANCTIONs lAw 13 July 24 Aug lbJP ChIEF Nitin Nabin will QUEsTIONs AbsENCE OF ANTI-INCUMbENCY, CITEs INDIRA EXAMPlE 6 Apr 4 May 1 Jun Happening today SourcE: BSE, NSE wEBSitE Akash Mandal Mumbai, September 24 InDIanMarkeTSsawasharp slump on Thursday as mountingwarinessoversurgingcrude oilprices,inflationaryconcerns and rising bond yields — all exacerbated by the ongoing West asia war — triggered widespreadsellingamonginvestors. The benchmark nifty 50 index ended at an over five- month low of 23,063.10, down 383.70 points or 1.6%. The Sensex slumped 1.7% or 1,247.71 points to close at an over threemonth low of 73,580.54. all sectoral and broader market indices ended in the red, with India VIX volatility indicator skyrocketing nearly 23%. This came on a day when the national Stock exchange (nSe) made its market debut, »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 lSATnAM SinGh And SAlMAn KhAn, now wiTh The nAvy And ArMy, TrAined for quAdruple SCullS, buT TeAM ChAnGed dAyS before evenT Former uber driver, farmer son team up to win india’s maiden medal in double sculls EXPRESS at AsiAn GAmes Mihir vasavda Nagoya, September 24 THey Were an unlikely pair even before they were thrown together. Satnam Singh, 26, from a farming family. Salman khan, 28, a former Uber driver. Two six-footers from very different backgrounds, who had barely five days to figure each other out in a double scull boat. on Thursday, in the waters of the nagara river, the rowing venue, the duo won the bronze Tauru, Haryana, where his inthemen’sdoublesculls—In- father worked on truck bodies. dia’s maiden medal in the after his father’s death in 2016, event, and its first rowing the family returned to their medal in this edition of the hometown,andSalman,theelasian Games. “even after we dest among six siblings, moved are not around, the world will to Delhi. “My brothers had remember that a khan and a to study, sisters had to be marSinghwonIndia'sfirstmedalin ried. I was the eldest, so it was double sculls at the asian my responsibility. I had to Games,” says Satearn,” he says. PagE 1 nam. So he became an It was a medal Uber driver, behind neither man had exthe wheel of a Wapected to win under the cir- gonr, mostly between Delhi cumstances. For Salman, the and Gurgaon, driving from 5 road to that boat had been as am to 9 am, and again from 5 unlikely as the pairing itself. pm to 10 pm. The man from amethi didn’t “In 2018, one of my friends even want to become a rower. called me and convinced me to He spent his childhood in tryforthearmy.Ihadfailedthe inSiDE Page 15 india win silver in 4x400m mixed relay, bronze in 10,000m anchor rowers Salman Khan (left) and Satnam Singh with their bronze medals in the Men’s double Sculls event at the Asian Games. pti written exam once before, so I wasn’t sure of passing again. But he convinced me, saying I had good height and body,” says the 6’4” rower. Salman trained three times a day, often alone, and made it into the army, where, like many rowers before him, he found the sport almost by accident. He thought about quittingaftertwopooryears,buthis commanding officer talked him into staying. When he arrived in nagoya, he was an established member of India’s rowing team. However, what he could not have anticipated was that, just days before his event, his carefully Kolkata preparedcrewwouldbebroken up amid a series of controversial last-minute changes. Satnam and Salman were meant to compete in the quadruple sculls with Balraj Singh and Jakhar khan. But at the eleventh hour, the quadruple sculls team was changed, with only Jakhar retained. and five days before the double sculls event, Satnam and Salman had to prepare for a race in which they had never rowed together. The changes left them devastated.“Weweresodepressed. We couldn’t eat or sleep,” says Salman.“Wewerecrying.emotionswerehighbecausewehad been training together for the past six months. We hadn’t rested even one day for these six months. Whatever the coaches said, we did.” Some rowers considered not training at all, but Satnam, who serves with the navy, saw it differently. “We came today because we couldn’t let the country down. The trust the country has placed on you, the belief and money that has been spent on you. If on the last day, you stay away, people wouldn't see why it had happened.” Before the race, Salman spoke to the coaches who had brought him this far and told themwhathadhappened,how upset he was. Their answer »CONTINUED ON PAGE 2