India: Shah offers Gandhi vote theft debate in Parliament

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday challenged opposition leaders Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav to discuss allegations of electoral irregularities in parliament, even as the opposition geared for a major rally against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar , according to media reports.

“I am ready to call a special session of Parliament to discuss vote theft allegations,” Shah said, accusing the opposition of making baseless allegations against the Election Commission and staging protests while skirting parliamentary debate.

His remarks came as the opposition INDIA block prepared to hold a symbolic “public impeachment” of Kumar on Saturday, followed by a major rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on November 1.

Around 30 speakers from 21 opposition parties are expected to participate.

The opposition is demanding Kumar’s resignation over his role in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and the scrapping of the SIR, alleging that the exercise could disenfranchise voters and benefit the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In a call for the November 1 rally, Rahul Gandhi said “anyone who cares about democracy must come.”

“The vote is yours. The fight is also yours,” the Congress leader wrote on X.

Earlier, the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) also threw their weight behind the rally saying the movement would lend its support to any organization fighting for free and fair elections in Indiaincluding the opposition alliance.

A German citizen was among two people killed in a suspected electrocution at a five-star hotel swimming pool in Bengaluru on Friday evening, media reports said.

The 57-year-old German national and another 45-year-old man from Slovakia had gone swimming at the Conrad Hotel when the incident occurred, according to reports.

A US tourist and an Indian hotel employee were also injured while attempting to rescue the victims.

Their conditions are stable and expected to be discharged soon, reports said.

The hotel management said it was cooperating with local authorities and that the cause of the incident had not yet been established.

India will conduct its next population census from January 25 to February 28, 2027, followed by a revision exercise from March 1 to 5, according to a gazette notification issued on Friday cited by the Indian Express newspaper.

According to authorities, the option for self-enumeration would be available from January 10 to 24, ahead of the door-to-door exercise.

The census will cover all states and Union territories except Manipur, Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Ladakh and snow-bound areas of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, which will follow separate schedules, the report said.

Students of Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi held a victory march on campus on Friday, after the university administration agreed to reinstate the student union and set a timeline for elections.

The university agreed to restore its students’ union and hold elections after nearly two decades, following an 18-day hunger strike by students demanding its reinstatement.

Tensions escalated last week when police allegedly detained protesters, with some students also accusing personnel of assaulting them.

Under a formal order issued by the administration, the university has committed to finalizing and implementing the union’s constitution by May 15, 2027.

Student union elections will be held within six weeks of the commencement of the next academic session.

The Jamia Millia Islamia Students’ Union (JMISU) was disbanded in

On Friday, Delhi experienced temperatures more typical of a winter day than an October afternoon.

Delhi recorded its lowest October daytime temperature in 75 years on Friday, with a maximum temperature of 20.7 degrees Celsius, which more than 10 degrees below normal, PTI news agency reported, citing data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The low temperature came after two days of persistent rainfall.

The maximum temperature at Safdarjung, Delhi’s base weather station, was the lowest for October since records began in 1951, the IMD data added.

Delhi also recorded its wettest October day in four years, receiving 61.4 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending Friday morning.

The rainfall also helped clean up air pollution levels, with the Indian capital’s notoriously bad Air Quality Index (AQI) improving to a “satisfactory” reading of 60.

However, experts say pollution levels could deteriorate to the “poor” category on November 1 and remain poor or very poor over the coming days.

India’s space agency successfully launched a navigation satellite on Friday night to strengthen the country’s indigenous alternative to GPS.

The NVS-03 satellite, the third in Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) next-generation navigation series, was carried into orbit by the “GSLV-F18” rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, located on an island in the Bay of Bengal.

According to ISRO the “the GSLV-F18 vehicle placed NVS-03 satellite into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.”

An earlier statement by the agency said the satellite is “intended to augment the NavIC constellation and support continuity of navigation services.”

It is designed to provide navigation coverage across India and up to 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) beyond its borders.

NavIC is seen as an alternative to the Global Positioning System (GPS) system owned by the United States government and developed to reduce India’s dependence on foreign navigation systems.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrated the successful launch as a “great accomplishment.”

An oil tanker carrying 27 Indian seafarers was targeted with limpet mines in the Strait of Hormuz.A small boat attached two mines to the vessel’s hull, causing a fire in the engine room, maritime security sources said on Friday.

Indian Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said all Indian seafarers aboard the vessel were safe and had sustained no injuries. Sonowal also added that two Indians aboard another tanker that faced a separate attack on October 29 were also safe.

The attack on the Panama-flagged Louise 1 occurred on Thursday, around 25 nautical miles (46 km) northeast of Oman’s Khasab.

The fire was extinguished, the crew was safe and there was no environmental impact, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said.

The incident marks the first known successful use of limpet mines against a vessel in the waterway since the US-Iran war began in February.

The identity of those behind the attacks was not immediately known.

The Strait of Hormuz,a vital chokepoint for oil and gas transportis seeing attacks on ships at the highest level since the Iran war began, according to US-based think tank Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Incidentally, the Louise 1 was hit earlier with naval drones in the Black Sea by Ukrainian forces over its alleged role in transporting Russian oil and being part of the so-called shadow fleet of tankers deployed by Moscow.

Iran offers plan to reopen Strait of Hormuz within 7 days

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This is Shakeel from DW’s New Delhi studio bringing you the top updates from across India on the last day of the coldest October in 75 years. Brrr…must be true!

On a more serious note, two vessels with Indian crew members were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz in the past two days. Thankfully, the Indian government has said all sailors were safe.

Meanwhile, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the NVS-03 satellite to strengthen its indigenous navigation system and reduce reliance on the US-owned GPS.

We’ll have all this and more here. And you can review yesterday’s India news round-up here.