The ideas Page: The election umpire’s independence begins with its appointment 9 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2026 JournaLiSm of Courage AhMedAbAd, 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 happening today lThe second ediTion of India's premier multinational air exercise 'Tarang Shakti' begins in Jodhpur. The exercise will bring global air forces together for ‘high-octane joint tactical manoeuvres’, the IAF has said. lTwo jewel-embedded ivory pen cases, claimed to have been commissioned by Mughal emperor Jahangir, will be displayed in the US for the first time. Track These and more on www.indianexpress.com the big PiCtUre A mother’s bAttle to bring her son home from UkrAine PAge 14 the world PAge 15 trUmP, Xi wrAP UP sUmmit with teA — minUs Any breAkthroUgh rUssiAn strikes shUt UkrAine steelmAker, five killed nation PAge 10 wrestlers move CoUrt AgAinst briJ bhUshAn ACqUittAl ArAGhchi meeTs TrUmP envoys wiTKoFF, KUshner As oPP diAls UP heAT on elecTion commission NDA partners to EC: Clarify, Iran proposes 7-day plan problematic if people begin to end war, reopen Strait to doubt electoral process of Hormuz, revive n-talks Offer being looked at by US, Qatar plays mediator on UNGA margins CEC must dispel misgivings: Chirag; transparency will help boost public confidence: TDP Farnaz Fassihi & Pranav baskar New York, September 25 santosh singh, nikhila henry & jatin Anand Patna, Hyderabad, New Delhi, September 25 MEMbErS oF the ruling bJP-led NDa on Friday said Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar must “dispelmisgivingsintheminds of the people” and the Election Commission (EC) must issue a clarification on internal differences over Special intensive revision (Sir) of electoral rolls. Thestatementsfromthelok JanshaktiParty(ramVilas),the Telugu Desam Party, and the rashtriya lok Morcha (rlM) came as the opposition sought answersontheriftintheEC.The IndianExpressonSeptember23 reportedthatElectionCommissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu andVivekJoshihadobjectedon record at least 14 times in 10 monthstoSir-relateddecisions taken without their knowledge andtoglaringgapsinprocesses. »conTinUed on PAGe 2 For homeless, FiGhT To sTAy on The rolls: residents of a night shelter run by the delhi government at sarai kale khan fill Form-6 to register as electors during a special sIr camp. AMIT MehrA Divide within Election Commission unites bitter Bengal rivals TMC, CPM Mamata speaks to M A Baby, urges Rahul to call INDIA bloc meeting next week manoj c G New Delhi, September 25 biTTEr riValS in West bengalfordecades,theMamatabanerjee-ledTrinamoolCongress (TMC) and the CPi(M) have opened communication channelsamidtheopposition'sconcerns over revelations in The IndianExpressaboutthedivide in the Election Commission Form probe team, move against CEC: Petitioner to Supreme Court express news service New Delhi, September 25 a PETiTioN has been filed in the Supreme Court, urging it to declare as illegal “all decisions, guidelines, directives and softwaremodificationsinitiated,approved,orimplemented”under Chief Election Commissioner cec Gyanesh kumar (EC) over the Special intensive revision (Sir) of electoral rolls. The two parties are founding members of the opposition iNDia bloc but had eschewed any formal communication or contact until now. Sources said Mamata banerjee and CPi(M) general secretary M a baby spoke over the business as Usual By EP UNNY Gyanesh Kumar “without full Commission concurrence”. The petition filed by Delhibased lawyer Shailendra Mani Tripathi has sought a probe by anindependent,high-powered judicial inquiry commission or a special investigation team headed by a retired judge of the deeptiman Tiwary iN a significantstepforwardin the Naga peace process, the Centre has agreed to include “a union Minister or a group of union-level Ministers” in the talks, meeting a longstanding demand of the NSCN-iM for political representation in the negotiations. This development comes seven months after former Joint intelligence Committee chief ajit lal was appointed as the Centre’s pointsman for the talks. in a statement Thursday, inside »conTinUed on PAGe 2 key trade pacts in mind, delhi looks at multi-nation visit by Pm in december divya A New Delhi, September 25 PAge 10 »conTinUed on PAGe 2 day and talks would restart,” araghchi said. He said “it would be better” if a deal was reached before the uS midterm elections. an american official familiar with the talks said that the administration was having positive and constructive discussions through mediators, but that the united States was not going to rush into a deal. The iranian proposal came even as President Trump and iran’s President, Masoud Pezeshkian, delivered mutually hostile speeches at the united Nations.Trumpthreatenediran with “annihilation” if it did not strike a deal, while a defiant India-Canada economic pact, India-EU Free Trade Agreement on the table »conTinUed on PAGe 2 Armed men kill 4 nAgAs in mAniPUr border villAge the NSCN-iM welcomed the move: “We particularly welcome the Goi’s decision to include a union Minister, or a groupofunion-levelMinisters, in the negotiation framework. Weexpectthiswill‘expeditethe politicalprocess’andcreatethe necessary momentum for reaching an honourable and enduring political settlement.” The strait of hormuz has been largely shut since the war broke out in February. AP FIle express special »conTinUed on PAGe 2 Union Minister to join Naga peace negotiations; encouraging: NSCN (IM) New Delhi, September 25 iraN’S ForEiGN Minister abbas araghchi said Thursday that Tehran had proposed to Washingtonaseven-dayplanto cease hostilities, reopen the StraitofHormuzandthenbegin comprehensive talks on his country’s nuclear programme. araghchi told reporters at a press briefing at the united NationsGeneralassemblythatthe proposal closely mirrored the commitments laid out in a socalled memorandum of understanding that was struck betweentheunitedStatesandiran in June but quickly unravelled. He said iran was ready to begin putting the plan into effect as soon as Washington agreed to it. “We have introduced a plan to the united States through the intermediators that if certain conditions are met, the Strait of Hormuz would be open on the end of the seventh OmarbringsJ&K statehoodresolution J&k cm omar abdullah and other nc mLas react as BJP legislators protest against a resolution moved by the cm seeking restoration of statehood, in the assembly in srinagar, Friday. PTI PAge 11 KEEPiNGTHEfocusonsealing key trade agreements, Delhi is looking to schedule a multi-nationvisitofPrimeMinisterNarendra Modi in December, The Indian Express has learnt. Destinations may include the uS, Canada and at least two Europeancountries,accordingtodiplomatic sources. While the india-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnershipagreement(CEPa) is likely to be finalised and signed in December, it is learnt that the india-Eu Free Trade agreement will also be signed in brussels the same month. Delhi and Washington, meanwhile, remain engaged on the bilateralTradeagreement,and hopetofinaliseitbyDecember. although there is no official announcement yet from the Ministry of External affairs on Prime minister narendra modi in new delhi on Friday. ANI the Prime Minister’s likely visit to North america and Europe, it is expected that he will travel to Miami for the summit of the G20leadersonDecember14-15. uS Secretary of State Marco rubio has formally invited Modi to the summit and this has been confirmed by uS ambassador to india Sergio Gor. Sources said if the Prime Minister does attend the G20 summit, it opens a window for »conTinUed on PAGe 2 E. explained off-ramp window The new proposal, which shrinks the 60-day timeline to 7 days, offers an off-ramp to both sides at a time when the US is headed to midterm elections and Iran has been severely impacted by the crisis in West Asia. The near closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sent global energy and food prices soaring and pressure has been mounting for a quick end to the war. nation PAge 11 At UngA, JAishAnkAr flAgs rising AttACks on shiPs, seAfArers Templetripturns tragic,4from mumbaikilledin Gujaratcarcrash Kamal saiyed Surat, September 25 Four MuMbai residents died in a road accident in Gujarat after an SuV they were travelling in rammed a stationary dumper truck on the outskirts ofSuratonFriday.Theaccident took place at Kamrej on the Vadodara-Mumbai Expressway. The dead have been identified as rajiv Jain, Jayanti Doshi, Pravin Jain and Sanjay Khemchand. originally from Gujarat’s Patan district, they had settled in Mumbai. They were headed to the Shankeshwar Jain temple, a major pilgrimage centre for the Jain community. Police sources said the incident took place at 8 am on Friday. The dumper truck driver had parked his vehicle on the leftland,reportedlyduetoaflat tire. The Maharashtra-registered car, in which the victims were travelling, hit the parked truck. all four passengers suffered fatal injuries. a local passerby alerted the Kamrej police station about the accident. The victimswereidentifiedthrough the documents on them. Police inspector r b Gojiya said, “These four men were on their way to visit the Shankeshwar Jain pilgrimage site in »conTinUed on PAGe 2 l FIrsT GoLd In shooTInG and The counTry’s second aT The asIan Games In JaPan Lock, load, gold: Suruchi and Kamaljeet make most of second chance, set record express at AsiAn GAmes mihir vasavda Nagoya, September 25 aFTEr SHE returned to her hotelWednesday,SuruchiPhogat slept for 13 hours straight. The next day, Kamaljeet Singh, too, would lay awake, tossing and turning. He went to bed around 1am and awoke at 5am, managing just four hours of sleep. The two shooters dealt with disappointment differently, but shared the same feeling wasindia’sfirstshootinggoldat after their individual events at the Games and second overall, the asian Games: The sinking afterthewomen’scricketteam’s realisation that a competition victory.ForSuruchiandKamalthey had worked towards for jeet, however, the victory was years had slipped away. more personal. it was a chance on Friday, they found a way to leave behind the individual to turn that feeling around. performances that had Paired at the last threatened to define minute in the 10m theirGames.“Maybe page 1 airpistolmixedteam that was not our day. event, the Haryana and maybe today shooters combined was,” Suruchi said. for 484.6 points in the final to For the 20-year-old, it was win gold and set an asian an unusually difficult outing. Games record. South Korea’s Shebeganshootingat13,travelpair of Choo Gaeun and Hong ling with her father — who inSuhyeon finished second with itially wanted her to wrestle — 478.0 points, while iran took from their home in Haryana’s bronze with 415.8. Sasroli to an academy in bhiafter days of near-misses, it wani. by 2025, she had won anchor suruchi Phogat and kamaljeet singh celebrate after winning gold in the 10-m air pistol mixed team final in Japan, Friday. PTI three consecutive World Cup gold medals and set a junior world record, establishing her- self as one of india’s leading young shooters. in Nagoya, her first major tournament expo- sure, she stumbled at the first block. Suruchi’s qualification began to unravel after a couple of8sduringwarm-up.Theshots unsettled her, and she became too cautious. She would raise her pistol and hesitate, unable to release the trigger. a round that normally took around 35 minutes stretched to 73. “in the individual series i wasunderalotoftension.iwas looking at the scores. in my mind the scores were going round and round, and because of that i wasn’t able to release the trigger. i was shooting late,” she said. “i cannot remember the last time i shot that bad.” Kamaljeet’sindividualcam- Ahmedabad paign followed a different coursebutendedinfrustration. The 23-year-old started strongly and briefly led qualification after the third series of 100 out of 100. a couple of poor shots, however, threw him off. He finished with 580 points, one short of the 581 required to reach the final. “i had started verywell,buttwoorthreeshots in between affected me and i wasn’t able to get stable mentally,” he said. For Kamaljeet, who had rebuilt his career after a serious injury, the setback was particularly difficult. in 2023, an autorickshaw carrying him back to his village after training was involvedinanaccidentthatkilled two co-passengers and left him with a fractured thigh bone. He spentamonthinhospitalashis family borrowed money for treatment, before rebuilding his career in pistol shooting. ‘Second chance’ The prospect of leaving Japan without a medal remained until india changed its combination on match eve, replacing Kedarling uchagave with Kamaljeet because of the form he showed in qualification. “i got a second chance, and i wanted to make the most of it,” he said. Suruchi took a different approach. She did not spend the »conTinUed on PAGe 2