Retail inflation rises to 5.54% in September Retail inflation rose sharply to 5.54 per cent in September on the back of high onion and other food prices, remaining just within the RBI’s tolerance band, government data released on Monday showed. The Consumer Price Index-based headline inflation was 4.83 per cent in August. Food inflation rose to 7.74 per cent in September from 5.97 per cent in August | P10 visakhapatnam l tuesday l october 13, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION 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 Massive march for democracy Rahul says only one protest, assures Oppn support to all committed to protecting Constitution LoP Rahul Gandhi’s writ petition in the SC challenges the legality of the SIR, alleging large-scale deletion of genuine voters. It seeks a direction to ECI to place on record the full file recording decision to commence SIR | P7 Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and AISA chief Neha Bora with others during the Opposition INDIA bloc’s march to the Supreme Court in New Delhi on Monday | PTI U d ayan K i s h o r e & A nu p Ve r ma @ New Delhi OPPOSITION leaders, party workers and members of the public took to the streets of central Delhi in a massive show of strength on Monday as the INDIA bloc intensified its campaign against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging electoral irregularities and demanding an end to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The ‘Chalo Delhi—March for Democracy,’ was later followed by the filing of a joint petition in the Supreme Court seeking judicial intervention over the allegations. The INDIA bloc has demanded Kumar’s resignation, suspension of SIR, a return to ballot papers and poll reforms. Led by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the march began near the Connaught Place–Barakhamba Road junction. Opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule and CPI general secretary D Raja, joined the mobilisation alongside activists Yogendra Yadav and Nandita Narayan and AISA chief Neha Bora. Police stopped the march at Bhagwan Dass Road about 1 km away , with security tightened across central Delhi. The petition, filed later in the day, lists several Opposition leaders as petitioners and challenges alleged irregularities in the SIR process. The SC registry subsequently flagged at least 10 defects in the plea. Addressing reporters ahead CJI Surya Kant said SC had neither approved nor disapproved the revised Form 6. The SC said ECI cannot claim judicial endorsement | P7 of the march, Rahul said the Opposition’s campaign was a collective effort to defend democratic institutions. “There are no parallel protests, there is one protest,” he said, adding that anyone committed to protecting the Constitution would have the Opposition’s support. Addressing Kumar, he said, “Resign, turn approver; you have made a mistake but you are not the mind behind the mistake.” He said the campaign would continue until the Election Commission’s leadership changed, the Constitution was upheld and the electoral system was overhauled. On X, Rahul said the INDIA bloc had written to Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, who told them to approach the court through a petition. He stressed that the agitation would continue beyond Monday’s march. Jantar Mantar denotified as designated protest venue E x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ New Delhi The Delhi Police on Monday denotified Jantar Mantar as a protest venue and named Ramlila Maidan, Burari Ground and CBD Ground, about 4, 21 and 13 kilometres away from Parliament, respectively, as the new designated sites for holding protests and demonstrations in the national capital. According to the order, the Union home ministry had constituted a committee to examine alternative venues for citizens’ right for organising protest and demonstrations in place of the existing “designated site”. “Based on the committee’s recommendations, Jantar Mantar as a protest venue has been de-notified. Three new venues viz Ramlila Ground, Burari Ground and CBD Ground, East Delhi have been designated as new venues for organising protest/demonstrations,” the order stated. Criticising the decision, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said, “It is a definite sign of the extreme panic that has gripped the PM-HM duo.” Cockroach Janta Party’s Saurav Das called the decision an “assault” on the fundamental right to protest. tirumala-tirupati makeover Naidu lays stone for `3,222-crore projects E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Tirumala/Tirupati In a massive developmental push aimed at transforming the Tirumala-Tirupati region into a world-class spiritual and model city Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday , virtually laid the foundation stone for projects worth `3,222 crore within the Tirupati Urban Development Authority (TUDA) and TTD limits from the Secretariat in Amaravati. The virtual ceremony was attended by TTD Chairman BR Naidu, Executive Officer M Ravichandra, TTD Board members, local legislators, the Tirupati District Collector, and TUDA officials. Addressing the gathering, CM Naidu emphasised that the grand scale of infrastructure must mirror the sacredness of the region, stating that visitors to Tirumala should experience an atmosphere akin to a replica of heaven. Setting a strict two-year completion deadline for the megaprojects, the CM cautioned executing authorities to assign contracts exclusively to organisations motivated by service and devotion rather than commercial profit. To ease pilgrim congestion on Tirumala and expand worldclass facilities in lower Tirupati, the government has initiated a comprehensive Integrated Pilgrim Township near the Alipiri SV Zoo Park road with an outlay of `2,750 crore.  P4 E x p r e s s Re a d Vizag ITIs set for major upgrade Vijayawada: The Centre and AM/NS India signed a pact in Visakhapatnam on Monday to upgrade four government ITIs at a cost of `200 crore under the PMSETU scheme. The Visakhapatnam cluster is the first in India to secure approval | P3 Govt notifies ward, mayor seat quotas The AP government on Monday notified reservations for mayoral posts and wards in 13 municipal corporations . Of 17 mayoral posts, five are reserved for BCs, five for women, two for SCs and one for STs, while four remain unreserved | P4 Arlekar appointed full-time TN guv Ram has been appointed Governor of Odisha, Dhal Singh Bisen will be posted in UttaraPRESIDENT Droupadi Mur- khand and Dushyant Gautam mu on Monday appointed gov- in Sikkim. ernors for six states, namArlekar, who was serving ing Rajendra Vishwanath as Kerala Governor, has Arlekar as the regular been in charge of Tamil gover nor of Tamil Nadu following R N Nadu, transferring Om Ravi’s transfer to West Prakash Mathur from Bengal in March. A Sikkim to Kerala and former Speaker and minappointing Sudha Yaister of Goa Assembly , dav as Governor Arlekar has also of Karnataka. served as GoverRajendra Vishwanath Arlekar nor of Himachal Braj Mohan RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi Pradesh and Bihar. Mathur, a BJP leader and former Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan, succeeds Arlekar in Kerala. Ram, a former Lok Sabha MP from Jharkhand’s Palamu, succeeds Hari Babu Kambhampati in Odisha. Sudha Yadav, a former BJP MP from Mahendragarh, Haryana, and member of the National Commission for Backw a r d C l a s s e s, s u c c e e d s Thaawar Chand Gehlot as Karnataka Governor.