With protests continuing for the third day on Sunday against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, the Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the Election Commission of India while saying it cannot go by newspaper reports alone.

The bench headed by Chief Justice of India Justice Surya Kant was hearing the pleas that CEC Gyanesh Kumar was taking unilateral decisions in the poll body even when the other Election Commissioners differed. The bench said if law wasn’t followed, it can undo it, referring to the plea which highlighted that the EC should have followed collective decision making.

The main grouse against the unilateral functioning of the Election Commission is that in the garb of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls over 13 crore citizens have been disenfranchised.

With the plea due for hearing on Monday, Sunday saw pitched confrontations between protesters, some led by the All India Students’ Association (AISA) and other Left student bodies and some led by Cockroach Janta Party, with Delhi Police personnel. Many women protesters charged Delhi Police personnel without nametags groped them.

Several student leaders including AISA’s Neha Bora were picked up by police when they were on their way to Jantar Mantar to protest demanding the sacking or resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar. With the yellow amaltas, a winter flower, yet to bud, the police’s yellow barricades seemd to be in full bloom blocking access to the EC headquarters, Nirvachan Sadan on Ashoka Road.

The students are said to have gotten together near Andhra Bhavan circle on Ashoka Road and were making their way to Jantar Mantar. But police personnel were deployed to prevent them from going to Jantar Mantar, which was the seat of the July protests that revolved around the demand for the sacking of Dharmendra Pradhan following the successive leaks in NEET UG.

RTI replies concerning 1,36,552 voter deletions in Indore in 2022 said several constituency offices had not maintained the requested digital records from Garud and ERO Net. 

The deletions took place between January 5 and October 15, 2022, and therefore predate the current Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. However, the subsequent RTI correspondence has brought attention to how records related to those deletions were maintained.

RTI replies say digital records were not maintained 

The RTI application, filed by former Indore councillor Dilip Kaushal, sought information related to entries made through the Garud app and ERO Net, along with material concerning decisions taken by Electoral Registration Officers.

Several constituency election offices responded that the requested digital records had not been maintained.

The Depalpur election office said it had not maintained digital records relating to ERO Net or the Garud app used by Booth Level Officers. Similar responses came from officials in Indore-2, Indore-5, Rau and Sanwer.

The Indore-1 and Indore-3 offices said requested digital material, including video and other copies, had not been maintained because there were no Election Commission instructions to preserve such records at the time.

The Indore-4 office said the deletion process through Garud and ERO Net was routine work carried out under Election Commission instructions, but the constituency office had not maintained the digital material sought in the RTI application.

1.36 lakh deletions across Indore constituencies

The 1,36,552 deletions cited in the application were spread across several Assembly constituencies.

Indore-4 accounted for 28,391 deletions, while Indore-5 recorded 28,091. Rau had 21,346 deletions.

The application also listed 19,983 deletions in Indore-2, 12,102 in Indore-1 and 8,107 in Indore-3. Sanwer accounted for 8,531 deletions and Depalpur for 2,214.

Together, Indore-4 and Indore-5 accounted for 56,482 deletions, while adding Rau’s figure took the combined total to 77,828.

Madhya Pradesh High Court directs action on RTI appeal

Kaushal pursued the matter after receiving the replies and filed a second appeal before the State Information Commission.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has now directed the State Information Commission to decide the pending appeal on its merits and in accordance with law.

Justice Sandeep N Bhatt’s September 17 order asked the authority to decide the matter as expeditiously as possible, preferably within 45 days of receiving a certified copy of the order, and communicate the outcome to Kaushal.

The appeal had been pending since January 30, 2026.

Kaushal had also raised the issue with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, and the Madhya Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer in July 2025.

The RTI trail relates to voter deletions carried out in 2022 and does not itself establish that the deletions were part of the current SIR exercise.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath transferred more than Rs. 148 crore in scholarship and fee reimbursement funds to over 4.60 lakh students on Saturday, according to the report.

The funds were transferred to students through their bank accounts as part of the state’s scholarship and fee reimbursement programme.

The initiative covers students from different social and economic categories and is aimed at ensuring that financial difficulties do not prevent them from continuing their education.

Yogi Adityanath’s message to students

During the programme, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said that no student should have to discontinue education because of a lack of funds.

He stressed the government’s commitment to providing students with equal opportunities to pursue their education and move forward in life.

The scholarship and fee reimbursement support is intended to provide financial assistance to eligible students while helping them continue their studies.

Scholarship support for UP students

The latest transfer covers more than 4.60 lakh students and involves over Rs. 148 crore in financial assistance. The programme includes scholarship and fee reimbursement support for eligible students.

Other reports on the October 3 distribution said the amount covered students belonging to the Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, general category and minority communities.

The Uttar Pradesh government has also highlighted the use of automation in the scholarship distribution process, saying it has improved transparency and helped ensure timely payments to students.