belagavi l tuesday l october 06, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 l late city EDITION U.S.-German trio wins medicine Nobel for illuminating the brain The Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded on Monday to three scientists for their pioneering work in the neuroscience field of optogenetics Karl Deisseroth Peter Hegemann Prof. Dr Georg Nagel Using light as switch to control brain Helps understand role of specific cells Using light, researchers can now switch individual neural circuits on or off in the brain. It all began when Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel discovered a protein, channelrhodopsin, in a single-celled alga. German researcher Karl Deisseroth then worked with the gene that controls that protein to create a light-controlled switch for nerve cells in mice’s brain ■ ■ Optogenetics helps researchers understand how specific cell types contribute to behaviours like learning, fear, addiction and movement Optogenetics has “altered our understanding of the brain. Every day brings discoveries, helping to solve one of humanity’s great mysteries: how our incredible brain works,” the Nobel committee said Today Nobel prize for physics to be announced CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Didn’t approve change Your IndiGo ticket just got costlier to ECI’s Form 6, says SC ARS H A D K H A N @ New Delhi Says will annul unilateral decisions; rejects plea to suspend CEC s u c h i t r a K a lya n M o h a n t y @ New Delhi THE Supreme Court on Monday said it had never approved any modification to Form 6 used by the Election Commission of India (ECI) during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of poll rolls, and said it would examine records to find out who altered the statutory form without following due process. A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana issued notice to the ECI and the Centre on a batch of pleas alleging that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar took key decisions unilaterally , without the concurrence of the other two Election Commissioners. It directed the ECI and the Law Ministry to file responses in a week and listed the matter for October 13. “Any modification to Form 6 has not been approved by us. Let’s be clear. When records are produced, we would like to see who modified it,” the CJI said. Later in the day, the ECI pushed back, saying a declaration was attached to Form 6 in the Bihar SIR order of June 24, 2025, which was upheld by the top court in its May 27 order. The court on Monday was hearing a PIL by advocate Shailendra Mani Tripathi challenging unilateral decisions and software changes introduced by the CEC.The plea, filed through advocate C h a n d Qureshi, was taken express read Cabinet to take up milk price, bus fare hike Bengaluru: The state cabinet is likely to discuss proposals to hike milk prices and bus fares at its meeting on Tuesday. The 16 cooperative milk unions under the Karnataka Milk Federation have sought a Rs 12 per litre increase. Bus fares have remained unchanged for nearly two years, while the four transport corporations have continued to incur losses | P4 Beer sales increase by over 40% in state Bengaluru: Beer sales in the state have registered a growth rate of 41.32 per cent in the first half (April to September) this year in comparison to the same period last year. As per official statistics, the department collected Rs 3,377.88 crore in the first half this year against Rs 2,836.64 crore in the same period last year | P7 We will examine all the decisions. If any decision is not in accordance with the law, we will annul it. You know the power of the court — Chief Justice Surya Kant 1 One plea contended that under Article 324, ECI is mandated by law to take decisions by unanimity 2 The petition raised additional concerns over electoral roll revisions in Goa and West Bengal up in the wake of a recent report stating that two Election Commissioners had objected to changes made during SIR, including modifications to Form 6 requiring details of an applicant’s ancestry and a link to the previous SIR, which the petitioners said was arbitrary . The bench tagged the plea with a petition by Patna resident Rakesh Kumar Singh through senior advocate Vikas Singh. Tripathi alleged that the changes were introduced through EC software without following statutory procedure, adding the two ECs, Dr Vivek Joshi and Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu noted on file that the changes were “unauthorised and illegal” and sought their immediate rescission. The ECI’s DG-IT Seema Khanna had “no legal authority” to curtail Electoral Registration Officers’ (ERO) access to ECI 3 SC ruling came ahead of a proposed protest outside EC HQ on Tuesday by INDIA bloc parties Net, he said. The plea alleged violation of collective decisionmaking and sought criminal proceedings against Kumar. The second petition, filed by Rakesh Singh and others, claimed SIR in Bihar and other states, rationalisation of polling booths and model code enforcement were decided by the CEC alone. Senior advocate Vikas Singh cited the 2023 Anoop Baranwal judgment, and argued collective decision-making was essential to avoid a perception of bias, and that the other two ECs could run ECI if Kumar were suspended. “If there is any violation, we will undo (it),” the CJI said. “Let the Election Commission file its affidavit.” The court declined to suspend Kumar or pass any interim direction, saying it could not do so without hearing the respondents. It cautioned that an ex-parte suspension would stall the ECI’s functioning. “Who will conduct the elections?” the bench asked. P9 Court orders CBI probe into graft in Punjab CMO H a r p r ee t B a j w a @ Chandigarh The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigation into allegations of corruption linked to Punjab Chief Minister’s Bhagwant Mann’s office. The allegations of graft in transfers, policy decisions and tenders were raised by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in three letters to the Punjab Director General of Police. Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema said the state would challenge the order in the Supreme Court. A division bench of Chief Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Rohit Kapoor directed the CBI to register an FIR and submit a status report within two months. The court ordered the state government and police to cooper- ate with the agency noting it was , “not impressed by the manner in which Punjab police has acted so far in the matter”. The HC was hearing a PIL filed by advocate Nikhil Saraf. The PIL alleged corruption by senior state officials, including Mann’s Officer on Special Duty Rajbir Singh Ghuman. The ED’s letters were based on material unearthed in an money laundering investigation involving Greater Mohali Area Development Authority land allotments in which one Nitin Gohal acted as an intermediary for Ghuman. The ED alleged that Gohal, in collusion with Ghuman and others, operated an organised bribery network out of the CMO, collecting crores of rupees in exchange for influencing postings, leaking files and clearing commercial projects. IN a fresh blow to air travellers, the country’s largest airline IndiGo on Monday announced a fuel surcharge on domestic and international flights from October 6. The surcharge will range from `375 to `10,000, depending on the route and sector. The move comes amid a sharp surge in fuel prices triggered by the ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Gulf. For domestic flights, IndiGo will charge a fuel surcharge of `425 for routes less than 500 km, `600 for routes between 501-1,000 km, `900 for routes between 1,001-1,500 km, `1,150 for routes between 1,501-2,000 km and `1,300 for routes above 2,000 km. For international flights, In- Rising ATF costs Air India, IndiGo and Akasa, introduced fuel surcharge in March when global ATF prices shot up due to the West Asia war. They lowered it in July as prices stabilised. With tension again peaking in the region, energy prices, including ATF, have seen a sharp jump diGo will charge a fuel surcharge of `500 for the SAARC nations that are within 500 km. For SAARC region beyond 500 km, the charges are `1,000. For South East Asia, Middle East & GCC and North & East Asia, a fuel surcharge of `5,500 has been introduced. For Africa, it is `6,000 and for Europe, the fuel surcharge is `10,000. Cops: Prisons DIG Ministers Hardeep Puri, Verma sexually exploited out of BJP’s UP Rajya Sabha list convict’s wife to get him released N a m i ta B a j pa i @ Lucknow E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Bengaluru A Deputy Inspector General (DIG)-rank officer of the Department of Prisons and Correctional Services was arrested by the Parappana Agrahara police for allegedly assisting a life convict walk out of the prison by submitting a forged Supreme Court order. The probe also revealed that the officer had allegedly sexually exploited the convict’s wife in exchange for helping secure her husband’s release. The accused has been identified as M Somashekar, who is currently serving as DIG (North Range). He was arrested on Sunday and remanded in police custody till October 9. According to the police, the case pertains to convict Shankar A, convicted by the Fast Track Court-I in connection with a 2001 kidnapping-for-ransom case registered by the Chickpet police. On July 12, 2004, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000. His appeals before the Karnataka High Court and the Supreme Court were unsuccessful as both courts upheld his conviction and sentence. Shankar, who was serving his life sentence at the Bengaluru Central Prison, was released on November 13, 2018, after a forged Supreme Court order was submitted to the prison authorities. Eight years after his release, the incident came to light after the Superintendent (in-charge) of Bengaluru Central Prison filed a complaint with the Parappana Agrahara police on May 20, 2026. The police subsequently began an investigation. During the investigation, the police arrested Shankar, who allegedly revealed the involvement of Srikanth S, who was then working as a Second Division Assistant (SDA) and is now a First Division Assistant (FDA) in the Convict Prisoner Section of the Central Prison. Subsequently Srikanth , was also arrested. He allegedly received Rs 6 lakh for helping fabricate the forged Supreme Court document, the police said. P7 No names deleted while processing applications: CEO E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @Bengaluru Setting aside apprehensions and fears among people, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, V Anbukkumar on Monday said that so far, no names have been deleted from the electoral rolls and the due process is being followed for each application. He told reporters, “So far, no case has been filed pertaining to deletions and no deletion has taken place. The Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have been directed to follow the due process while handling each case for deletion, inclusion and correction. Action will be taken against those filing false details for deletion.” Explaining the process, he said an individual objector can file a maximum of ten applications while the Booth Level Agent (BLA), assigned by registered political parties, can file 50 applications. The notice for deletion is issued to the person filing the objection and to the person against whom it is issued. Both parties are given seven days to file objections and withdraw the complaint. After that, a speaking order for deletion is issued. This can be challenged before the District Election Officer and the CEO, he said. As per data till October 4, the CEO’s office received 22,05,171 applications, of which 91,278 are Form 7 for deletion. Also, 11,98,484 Form 8 for correction, 9,10,732 Form 6 for inclusion and 4,677 Form 6A for inclusion of NRIs were received. He said that of all the Form7s received, those objecting to proposed inclusion are nil. So far, no bulk deletion has taken place and no cases have been filed, he added. He said that all 22.05 lakh applications will not be processed while publishing the final electoral rolls on October 27. P6 IndiGo controls two-thirds of India’s d o mestic air traffic. The fresh levy will lead to sharp surge in ticket prices. “The continuous rise in fuel prices, with the latest monthon-month increase exceeding 14%, has taken ATF costs to levels that are amongst the highest in the last decade. Given that Aviation Turbine Fuel makes up a significant share of airline’s operating costs, this rise is expected to impact airlines’ cost structures and network economics, including those of IndiGo,” said IndiGo in a statement. The airline added, “In view of the situation, IndiGo has marginally re-calibrated its fuel charges across its domestic as well as international flights. The following charges will be included in all new bookings on IndiGo flights starting 0001 hrs on 6 October 2026.” Aviation turbine fuel or ATF, which accounts for up to 40% of an airline’s operating costs, has become more expensive amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia. After falling from `115 per litre in June to `110 in July domestic ATF prices rose , back to `115 per litre in August and then climbed to `121 per litre on September 1. The prices further shot up to `137 per litre for domestic airlines from October 1. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, V Anbukkumar provides details about the SIR process | x So far, no case has been filed pertaining to deletions and no deletion has taken place. Action will be taken against those filing false details for deletion V Anbukkumar, Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka All outgoing MPs dropped Among the BJP Rajya Sabha members retiring from Uttar Pradesh are Hardeep Singh Puri, B L Verma, Arun Singh, Geeta Shakya, Neeraj Shekhar, Brijlal and Seema Dwivedi Union ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and B L Verma did not feature in the list of eight candidates announced by the BJP on Monday for the October 16 Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. The list has a mix of uppercaste, Other Backward Classes (OBC), Dalit and women faces, with sources saying the party is aiming to strike a careful caste and regional balance. The eight candidates announced are: State minister Dharampal Singh, Radhakant Ojha, Prakash Pal, Vidyasagar Sonkar, Gopi Krishna Pandey, Priyanka Singh Rawat, Ram Pratap Singh Chauhan and Shruti Gangwar. Besides two women, the list has three candidates from the OBC community two from the , Scheduled Caste and three from the upper caste. The nominations offer clues to the BJP’s strategy in UP, where social engineering remains central to electoral success. By accommodating various caste groups and regions, the party appears keen to reinforce its broad social coalition. The ruling BJP announced its candidates just a day before the last date for filing nomination papers. The Samajwadi Party has fielded its secretary general Ram Gopal Yadav and senior Reliance Industries executive Dhanraj Parimal Nathwani for two seats.