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SIR: Form 7 controversies raise fresh questions about the continued power to delete voters
The meeting Election Commission held on September 26, 2026 provided certain procedures for voters left out or issued notices during SIR, but fresh cases from Delhi and Karnataka show that the wider machinery through which existing names can be challenged and processed for deletion remains in place
Prioritise ecological security of country over “false narrative” of “highway development”: CCG to Govt & Courts
Former bureaucrats protest the “steady lowering of statutory safeguards for protecting India’s Environment and Forests” in an open letter to the government; both government and the judiciary need to prioritise the ecological security of our country and the health and life of its citizens over the false narrative of more roads, more buildings, more townships, more mines, more industries, more destruction of the natural world that is currently seen as progress.
After some dithering, Odisha government rejects premature release of Graham Staines murder convict Dara Singh
Odisha Chief Minister, Mohan Charan Majhi, had in 2022, when he was a BJP legislator supported demands for Dara Singh’s early release, a demand vocalised by Sudarshan TV’s editor, Suresh Chavhanke
Why Swatantra Bhardwaj is a pawn in our politics
As a fellow Bihari and a native of Darbhanga, my heart goes out to the middle class parents who pawn jewellery and mortgage ancestral property to send their ladlas and ladlis to a big city…
BAPS, the Eiffel Tower and the curious silence on secularism
I was a little surprised to see how some...
Penguin’s Shenanigans
Penguin has repeatedly crossed the line between due diligence and outright censorship. Small publishers, who have a lot more to lose, seem to have more of a spine.
India’s middle‑class crisis: the great bifurcation and the Gen Z uprising
The student protests we have been witnessing in India can be...
Vande Mataram and the 2026 Amendment: From voluntary honour to penal coercion
While the slogan Vande Mataram galvanised millions during India’s struggle for liberation from the clutches of colonial rule, this essay demonstrates that the 2026 Amendment –that the BJP has orchestrated--does not represent historical continuity, but rather a contemporary majoritarian redefinition of a complex national symbol.
Beaten to Death Outside His Own Home: What Delhi owes Chongtham Vikram Singh
The 55-year-old Manipuri musician died after a group allegedly attacked him in southeast Delhi; seven men and a juvenile have been apprehended
‘Gauri Day’ Became ‘Gen Z Day’
When a memorial for the slain journalist Gauri Lankesh became a loud and renewed reiteration for more accountability, equality and justice in India
Comrade Sonya Gill: A life dedicated to the struggle for equality and justice
The sudden and shocking demise of Comrade Sonya Gill...
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India
SIR: Form 7 controversies raise fresh questions about the continued power to delete voters
The meeting Election Commission held on September 26, 2026 provided certain procedures for voters left out or issued notices during SIR, but fresh cases from Delhi and Karnataka show that the wider machinery through which existing names can be challenged and processed for deletion remains in place
Rule of Law
Supreme Court rejects ‘informal detention’, strengthens safeguards against arbitrary arrest
Holding that the 24-hour deadline under Article 22(2) begins with the actual curtailment of liberty, the Court says investigating agencies cannot keep individuals in custody while delaying the formal recording of arrest
India
Maharashtra SIR: Over 2 crore names left off draft rolls; report finds uneven burden across regions and groups
A preliminary analysis of Maharashtra’s SIR-2026 draft roll by the Sabar Institute finds that 20.69 million names which is a significant 21.1 % of the state’s 97.9 million electors— close to one in five pre-revision electors — were missing in the draft electoral roll published on August 31, 2026; these voters were placed on the ASDD list; the report also identifies sharp geographical variations in the deletion
India
SIR: ECI “removes Form 6 declaration” but serious questions on legality of procedure remain
The Election Commission has separated the SIR declaration from the statutory Form 6 after two Election Commissioners objected to its inclusion and one called the change “unauthorised/illegal”, the issue comes as the Supreme Court is hearing the separate question of requiring deleted Delhi voters to seek inclusion again through Form 6
India
Does the ECI’s Nov 6 communication signal a step-back on re-enrolment in the ASSD list?
SC petitioners Anjali Bharadwaj and Amrita Johri welcome ECI’s Nov 6 communication to seven states on facilitating inclusion of left-out voters
Rights
Assam: Gauhati HC quashes NSA detention of activist Pranab Doley
Doley was arrested in July this year for a protest against a hotel project near Kaziranga, and had been booked under the nefarious National Security Act (NSA) after a court granted him bail; Forum for Social Harmony, AMSU-AIKMS and BAA accuse the Assam government of criminalising land rights activism