The editorial Page: To ease energy transition, ramp up storage, strengthen transmission 10 TUESDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2026 JournAlism of CourAge New delHi, laTe ciTy, 20 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 , lu 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 s.I.r. oF eleCtoral rolls leGal, Its ProCess jUstIFIeD: Poll PaNel EC papers over objections within, presents united front in SC affidavit Happening today Says no change in Form 6; observations and questions by ECs not decisions of Commission, ECINet team obligated to ensure EROs function smoothly lIsraelIs wIll vote to elect the Knesset. The first poll since the Hamas attack in Oct 2023, and the subsequent Gaza war, it will decide whether Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving PM, stays in power. Track This and more on www.indianexpress.com The Indian Express report published on september 23 ananthakrishnan G CalcuttaHC ordersremoval ofPM-adani videoacross socialmedia Press trust of India Kolkata, October 26 The CalCuTTa high Court on Monday barred the publication, uploading and sharing of a documentary on Prime MinisterNarendraModiandindustrialist Gautam adani until January 31 next year. The injunction followed a plea by adani enterprises limited before the high Court's vacation bench against tech entrepreneur Sabeer Bhatia, whoisallegedtohavemadethe video,andothers,seekingaban on its circulation and damages for defamation. JusticearyakDuttrestrained the respondents, including the ownersandoperatorsofX,YouTube and Instagram, their agentsandallactingundertheir authority, from publishing, republishing,uploadingandsharingthevideooranyclip,excerpt, ormateriallyidenticalreproduction of it, through any medium or platform. The court directed that the interim injunction will remain inforceuntilJanuary31,2027,or until further orders, whichever is earlier. It said the matter will come up for hearing before the regular bench in the monthly list of January next year. Justice Dutt directed the respondentsto"forthwithremove orcausetheremovaloftheconcerned video, and any clip, excerpt or reproduction thereof containing any such defamatory statements, from every account,channelandpageowned or controlled by them”. The court directed social media platforms to remove or disable access to the video at each uRl listed in the petition and to also disable the engagements — reposts, quote posts, shares and the like — through which the said video is accessible at those uRls. »CoNtINUeD oN PaGe 2 New Delhi, October 26 IN aN affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the election Commission of India (eCI) sought to clarify that observations, suggestions and questions by individual commissioners were just that, and not the eCI’s decisions. It said the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls is legal, its process justified, and that the petitioners’allegationsrelating to changes in voter registration procedures and decision-making process are misconceived. TheeC’saffidavit,filedinresponsetoapetitionbysocialactivistRakeshKumarSingh,said it“hasbeenapprovedforfiling… by a unanimous decision of the three members of the election Commission, i.e., two election Commissioners and the Chief election Commissioner.” Singh’s petition and the eCI affidavitcomeinthewakeofthe September 23 report in The IndianExpresswhichpointedto several file noting by election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh SandhuandVivekJoshiraising questions on the eCI’s Special Intensive Revision process, observations that access to the electoral roll was getting restricted for officers statutorily responsibleforthevoterlist,and thatchangestoForm6(formfor registration of first-time voters) were “unauthorised/ illegal”. »CoNtINUeD oN PaGe 2 EC says decisions unanimous, silent on why 2 members were not informed ritika Chopra Mumbai, October 26 TheeleCTIONCommissionof India’s affidavit in the Supreme Court is, in one sense, a defence of unanimity. approved for filing by a unanimous decision of allthreemembers,itinsiststhat the Commission’s major decisions on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls weretakencollectively.Notesrecording suggestions, observations or queries by individual Commissioners,itargues,donot themselvesconstitutedecisions of the Commission and are part of the consultative process. That distinction would answer an objection raised before a decision. Most of the 14 notes recorded over10monthsbyelection Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu andVivekJoshi,objectingtodecisionstakenin the Commission’s name without their knowledge, were written after the fact — about decisions already taken, systems already built, orders already issued and cases already filed, and what they recorded was that the two had not been told.Theissuetheinvestigation by The Indian Express raised was not whether the Commission eventually approved the decisions. It was whether two of its members were being consulted and informed about actions carried out in the Commission’s name. a petition filed on the strength of that report asked the court to examine how the »CoNtINUeD oN PaGe 2 For UPloaDING orDers oN s.I.r aPPeals HearING toDay Censorship, gag on investigations: Publishers move SC against privacy law Digital News Publishers Association includes The Indian Express, Network18, NDTV aditya Kalra New Delhi, October 26 aGROuP of21news publishers has challenged India’s privacy law in court, arguing it would trample investigativework and let New Delhi identify journalists’ sources, documents show. The government last year announced implementation of a privacy law to protect digital personal data of users, raising compliance requirements for platforms like Meta and Google. The publishers have said that since media outlets Judges of Bengal tribunals ask EC to fix portal, drop Aadhaar authentication Damini Nath New Delhi, October 26 JuDGeS OF Tribunals appointed by the orders of the Supreme Court to decide appeals of those affected by the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal have flagged at least twice in the last four weeks that the election Commission requirement for aadhaar authentication in its portal is holding them back from issuing final orders. Official records accessed by The Indian Express show that the judges had taken exception to the introduction of the aadhaar authentication required for them to issue orders on the appeals in September, and again less than two weeks ago. Just three days after the aadhaar-authenticationscreenwas introduced on September 21, the judges sought its removal, inwriting,on September24.as recently as October 13, the incharge of the tribunals once again asked the eC to “fix the issue” to ensure proper functioning of the tribunals such that final orders can be uploaded, the records show. The judges also separately raised concerns with the election Commission and the »CoNtINUeD oN PaGe 2 Microsoft offers buyouts to 60,000 workers in India, US, UK, Canada Press trust of India New Delhi, October 26 MICROSOFT ON Monday announced a voluntary exit programme for eligible employees inIndia,theuS,theuKandCanada, offering financial support and career planning resources to those opting to leave the company, according to a blog post by the tech giant. Microsoft has about 23,000 employees in India, although thereisnoimmediateclarityon how many of them would be eligible for the voluntary exit programme. Globally, around 60,000 employees are eligible. It is learnt that eligible employees in India will have until December 1 to decide on the voluntary exit offer. The package is understood to be similar to a standard severance arrangement, in- Court acquits Rahul in defamation case linked to 2018 remarks on Shah Manish sahu Lucknow, October 26 aCOuRTinuttarPradesh’sSultanpur on Monday acquitted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a defamation case filed in connection with his remarks about union home Minister amit Shah in 2018, ruling that the BJP leader who filed the complaintwasnotanaggrieved person and that the comments were not defamatory. Gandhiappearedbeforethe court amid tight security, accompanied by party workers and supporters. “The court has acquitted Rahul Gandhi in the case,” his lawyer, Kashi Prasad Shukla, confirmed. after the court pronounced thejudgment,theleaderofthe Opposition in lok Sabha left the premises. The complainant, Vijay Mishra, is a former vice-presidentoftheBJP’sSultanpurunit. “Thecourtconsideredthree »CoNtINUeD oN PaGe 2 cluding one month's base salary for every completed year of service, along with health insurance and career transition services. Microsoft's executive Vice President and Chief People Officer amy Coleman informed in her blog post that the voluntaryexitoffer(VeO), whichwill be available to employees at level 70 and below (internal job »CoNtINUeD oN PaGe 2 inside pages 13, 14 lula da silva wins record fourth term as Brazil president l in 10-odd secTors and many ParTy roLes, There are famiLiar names from deLhi From backrooms to seats at the table: The Delhi imprint in AAP’s Punjab govt Kanchan vasdev Chandigarh, October 26 aS The aam aadmi Party (aaP) government nears the completion of its first term in Punjab, it bears a striking resemblance to a past government run by it: that in Delhi. a fresh reminder came when the enforcement Directorate(eD)raidedabungalowin Sector39,Chandigarh,occupied bysenioraaPleaderandformer Delhi minister Satyendar Jain. The eD carried out a 50-hour search,fromSeptember22to24, of the premises as part of its investigation into alleged irregu- Punjab chief minister Bhagwant singh mann with delhi’s former deputy cm manish sisodia and party leader aman arora in Ludhiana on september 18. GurMeeT SiNGH larities in the affairs of the Greater Mohali area Develop- ment authority (GMaDa). Jain was not present at the bungalow,whichisofficiallyallotted to aaP leader Sunny Singh ahluwalia, Chairman of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board. apart from Jain, the eD has named in the case Jain’s OSD amarender Jha and ManishSisodia. The aaP Punjab incharge, Sisodia, was the party’s Deputy Chief Minister, Delhi. The aaP has rejected the allegations against Sisodia and Jain as “completely false, baseless and politically motivated”, adding that they had no role in the GMaDa, and that their role in Punjab was purely political. »CoNtINUeD oN PaGe 12 New Delhi Business as usual By EP UNNY were not exempt, the law was an invasion of press freedom. Media companies received assurances in an august meeting with the government that the law would protect press freedom, but not having a written carve-out for journalistslikeintheeuropeanunion, Singapore and Britain was alarming, India's Digital News Publishersassociation (DNPa) said in a confidential filing at the Supreme Court, reviewed by Reuters. The October 6 lawsuit, »CoNtINUeD oN PaGe 2 inside pages 8, 6 nationwide protests By Bjp over Kharge remarK on pm Keralam passes Bill on senior citizens’ rights