The editorial Page: rethink or abandon sIr. revelations about eCI take lid off electoral upheaval 10 FRIDAY, SEPtEMBER 25, 2026 JoUrnalIsm of CoUrage mumBAi, lAte city, 18 PAGeS ₹5.00 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 reg.no. mcS/067/2018 - 20 rni regn. no. 1543/57 QuEsTions AbsEncE oF AnTi-incumbEncY, ciTEs indiRA EXAmplE 74 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 Asad Rehman New Delhi, September 24 ThE indiAn EXpREss wishEs iTs REAdERs Happy anant CHaturdasHi We are closed today. there will be no edition of the newspaper on Saturday, September 26, 2026 business as Usual By EP UNNY 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 CommissionerstoSIr-relateddecisions 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 Already Delhi’s largest LNG supplier, Washington looks to push oil sale amid West Asia crisis, Russia sanctions law New Delhi, September 24 leader of opposition rahul gandhi in new delhi, thursday. Anil ShArmA inSidE 2 PleAS In bOmbAy HC CHAllenge mAHArASHtrA S.I.r, Seek eleCtIOn HAlt PAgeS 4, 9 gOA CeO: CASeS Of 97 VOterS HAVe been ‘PrOCeSSed SePArAtely’ 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 Alok singh & Jatin Anand 12-member panel given a month to frame election plan pallavi smart Mumbai, September 24 The LaST time students in Maharashtra voted for representatives on their campuses was in 1993. Thirty-three years later, the state government has taken a fresh step towards bringing student elections back, setting up a 12-member committee to examine how campuspollscanbeheldacross higher education institutions. The higher and Technical educationdepartmentissueda Government resolution (Gr) on Thursday appointing the committee, headed by former MumbaiUniversityVice-Chancellor Prof Suhas Pednekar. Ithasbeengivenamonthto submititsreport,whichwilldetermine the next step on whether and how the electoral process should be conducted. The committee will consult stakeholders and recommend measuresforpeaceful,transparentandinclusiveelections,with safeguards against external »conTinuEd on pAgE 2 cJp founder abhijeet dipke, co-conveners Saurav das and ashutosh ranka in new delhi, thursday. Amit mehrA EXPRESS special 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 iiT bombAY commiTTEE pRoposAls on EXAm mAlpRAcTicE A video, unidentified Among panel measures, mentor support before disciplinary action girl, closed POCSO pallavi smart case — then a flip in Veeramani probe Mumbai, September 24 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 STUDeNTS CaUGhT for examinationmalpracticeatIIT Bombay may be allowed to speak to their student mentors before facing a disciplinary committee, while the first page ofanswersheetscouldcarrydetailsoftheconsequencesofmalpractice, as part of a proposed overhaul of how such cases are handled at the institute. These are among the measuresbeingdiscussedbyanewly constituted committee at IIT Bombaythatwillframestudentfriendly Standard operating Procedures (SoPs) for invigilators and review the manner in which incidents of suspected academic misconduct are dealt with. The committee will have equal representation of faculty and students, a move that comes days after students included greater representation in decision-making bodies »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 6 Apr 4 May 1 Jun maharashtra movestorevive studentpolls, 33yrsafterlast campusvote New Delhi, September 24 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 74,000 72,000 74,068.45 73,580.54 1 Apr 1 May 1 Jun 1 Jul 1 Aug 1 Sept 168 21 Sept 136 Canhelpour partnersdeal withenergy crisis:Rubio 13 July 24 Aug 108 Opposition plans motion for CEC’s removal, Rahul says faith in polls ‘dying’, being rigged AFTER TRump signs sAncTions lAw Source: BSe, nSe WeBSite Akash mandal parents of Sahil wakode, iit bombay student who allegedly died by suicide, sit on a hunger strike at azad maidan, thursday. GAneSh ShirSekAr RElatEd REPoRtS, PAge 3 among the 18 demands in a charter submitted to IIT Bombay director on September 20. The move comes days after thedeathofSahilWakode,asecond-year BTech student, who was allegedly found with a mo- bile phone inside an examinationhallduringthemid-semesterexaminations.IITBombay’s initial statement said he was allegedly found using aI to find answers to questions. »conTinuEd on pAgE 7 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 lowof 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 earn,” he says. Games,” says SatPagE 1 So he became an nam. Uber driver, behind It was a medal the wheel of a Waneither man had expected 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. “In 2018, one of my friends The man from amethi didn’t even want to become a rower. called me and convinced me to he spent his childhood in tryforthearmy.Ihadfailedthe inSidE PAge 17 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 quitting after two poor years, but his 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 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