The Editorial Page: Uddhav & Raj bury hatchet but can they refresh Brand Thackeray for future? 10 SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2025 JOURNALISM of COURAGe NEW DELHI, LATE CITY, 22 PAGES ₹7.00 (₹8 RAIPUR, ₹15 SRINAGAR) 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 happening today lTHE CONgRESS WORKINg Committee (CWC) will meet in New Delhi to chalk out an agitational programme seeking withdrawal of the VB-G RAM G Act, which replaced the UPA-era MGNREGA. lUTTAR PRAdESH CM Yogi Adityanath will chair a two-day conference in Lucknow of senior police officers, focusing on challenges ranging from cybercrime and human trafficking to emerging issues such as social media. TRACK THESE AND MORE ON www.INDIANExPrEss.cOm THE BIg PICTURE In kerala, a mob and its many faces pAgE 12 NATION pAgE 6 SPECIAl INTENSIVE REVISION Of ElECTORAl ROllS Bihar playbook, Bengal pushback: local officials flag fear of deletions, say being bypassed as EC generates notices Atri Mitra, Ravik Bhattacharya & damini Nath Kolkata, New Delhi, December 26 Write to CEO: EROs may not even know of deletions, but will be blamed AS ELECTORAL Registration Officers (EROs) in West Bengal prepare to hold hearings from Saturday to decide whether lakhs of electors will remain on the rolls, an association of state service officers has flagged a seriousconcernoverthepotential of large-scale “systemdriven” deletions the EROs could be blamed for, despite not being involved in generating the notices. In a letter to West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal, with a copy to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s office, the West BengalCivilService(Executive) Officers’ Association on Wednesday flagged the “suo motu system-driven deletion of electors from the draft electoral rolls in West Bengal in the ongoing SIR process bypassing the statutory role of EROs”. The EROs are the sole and competent authority to issue notices if they doubt an elector’s eligibility, including citizenship, as per the Representation of the People Act, 1950. However, in the ongoing SpecialIntensiveRevision(SIR) of electoral rolls, the ECI’s centralised portal has been used to generate notices. The Indian Express had reported on December 16 that EROs across Bihar had found “pre-filled notices” appearing on their »CONTINUEd ON PAgE 2 HC’s Sengar order perverse: CBI challenges finding, seeks SC stay His release will jeopardise victim, family: Agency Ananthakrishnan g New Delhi, December 26 BAL pURASkAR CONFERRED ON 20 CHILDREN ANOTHER HYDEL pROjECT ON CHENAB gETS gREEN NOD DESCRIBING THE Delhi High Court order suspending the life sentence of Unnao rape case convict Kuldeep Singh Sengar as “contrary to law” and “perverse”, the CBI Friday moved the Supreme Court, challenging the HC finding that he was not a public servant when he committed the offence. In its appeal against the De- At a protest outside the Delhi High Court, Friday. PRAVEEN KHANNA cember 23 order which led to public outrage and protests including by the victim and her family, the CBI said the HC “failed to consider that a sitting MLA,byvirtueofholdingaconstitutional office, is vested with public trust and authority over the electorate, and that such a »CONTINUEd ON PAgE 2 Any judicial direction ‘Negligible progress’: on air purifier GST NHAI notice to firm will violate basic on ending contract structure: Govt to HC for expressway work Centre questions dElHI-MUMBAI EXPRESSWAY PIL motive, says ‘Intent-to-terminate’ notice to Pune it will open a contractor for 35-km stretch in Gujarat Pandora’s box dheeraj Mishra New Delhi, December 26 Sohini ghosh THE NATIONAL Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has issued an “intent to terminate notice” to Pune-based contractor Roadway Solutions India Infra Ltd (RSIIL), citing “negligible financial progress” in the 35-km Jujuwa-Gandeva section (Package 8) of the DelhiMumbai Expressway in Gujarat, derailing the entire 1,386-km project. On December 18, The OPPOSING THE Delhi High Court’s intervention in a PIL seeking GST reduction on air purifiersfrom18%to5%byclassifyingthemasmedicaldevices, the Centre said Friday that any judicialdirectionwillamountto thecourtsteppingintothelegislative domain and violating the Constitution’sbasicstructureof separation of powers. Statingthatentertainingthe New Delhi, December 26 The Indian Express report dated Dec 18 on the delay in the project Indian Express reported that a 87-kmstretchinGujarat,which included the Jujuwa-Gandeva section, had derailed the Rs 1.04 lakh crore project. »CONTINUEd ON PAgE 2 petition will “open a Pandora’s box” and the government is “scaredfromtheconstitutional perspective”, Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman, appearing for the Centre, said thereisalreadyalegislativeprocess involved in dealing with recommendationsmadeinParliamentary standing committee reports as well as how GST Councilmeetingsdeliberateon proposals. “How can this processbescuttledthroughacourt process?” he said. Advocate Kapil Madan, appearing as party-in-person in the PIL, has submitted in the petition that an air purifier can beclassifiedasamedicaldevice asperaFebruary11,2020notificationoftheMinistryofHealth and Family Welfare. »CONTINUEd ON PAgE 2 l‘AIM TO LEAvE BEHIND INFRA THAT CONTINUES TO IMPROvE EvERYDAY URBAN LIFE LONG AFTER THE GAMES’ Gujarat CM on his priority in run-up to CWG 2030: Fixing AQI, building infra Ritu Sharma & leena Misra Gandhinagar, December 26 FIXING THE air quality index and public transport systems will be the Gujarat government’s top priority, along with setting up “international standard sports facilities”, as it prepares to host the Commonwealth Games 2030, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has told The Indian Express. In an exclusive interview, Patel detailed how his government was streamlining processes to meet deadlines and ensure delivery. “We are work- fIRST REMARKS AfTER BNP lEAdER lANdS IN dHAKA ExPrEss interview BHUPENdRA PATEl CHIEF MINISTER OF GUjARAT ing closely with the United NationsEnvironmentProgramme to align our air quality index (AQI) with global public health benchmarks… The experience of successfully managing large crowds during major concerts, festivalsandculturaleventshas givenusconfidenceinhandling the scale and complexity of an international sporting event”, hesaid.“Weaimatnotjusthosting events successfully, but to leavebehindinfrastructurethat continues to improve everyday urban life long after the Games are over.” Patel’s government has also been aggressively hiring and fixing its governance and administration, largely based on recommendations of the Gujarat Administrative »CONTINUEd ON PAgE 2 E. ExPlAINED ERO: Sole authority for voter deletion AT the heart of the issues raised by the West Bengal officers’ association is the claim that names of persons may be deleted from voters’ list without the knowledge of the Electoral Registration Officer, who is the competent authority as per law to send notices and decide if a person is a legitimate voter. Business as Usual By EP UNNY Delhi on Rahman return: Polls must be free, inclusive Unremitting hostilities against minorities in Bangladesh: MEA divya A New Delhi, December 26 IN FIRST remarks on Bangladesh a day after BNP leader Tarique Rahman returned to Dhaka ending 17 years of selfexile, India said Friday that the homecomingshouldbeseenin the context of ensuring “free, fair,inclusiveandparticipatory elections” scheduled for February in the neighbouring country. Rahman, son of former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia whoisailing,istheBNP’sacting chairmanandistippedtobethe next Prime Minister. His party is expected to come to power after the February 12 elections. Ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League has been barred from the polls. RandhirJaiswal,spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, told reporters: “India stands for strengthening our ties with the people of Bangladesh. We favour peace and stability in Bangladesh and have BJP workers hold a protest in Karnataka’s Chikkamagaluru on Friday against the alleged killing of a Hindu youth in Bangladesh. PTI ThE wOrlD pAgE 14 RAHMAN VISITS FATHER’S gRAVE consistentlycalledforfree,fair, inclusive and participatory elections in Bangladesh.” Underlining the “unremitting hostilities” against minorities in Bangladesh and flagging it “as a matter of grave concern,” Jaiswal said India condemns the killing of a Hindu youth in Bangladesh. In Mymensingh, Dipu Chandra Das was beaten to death by a mob over alleged blasphemy, and his body was later set on fire on December 18. “Theunremittinghostilities against the minorities in Bangladesh including Hindus, Christians and Buddhists is a matter of grave concern. We condemn the recent killing of a Hindu youth in Bangladesh and expect that the perpetratorsofthecrimewillbebrought to justice,” he said. TensionsbetweenIndiaand Bangladeshescalatedlastweek »CONTINUEd ON PAgE 2