BHUBANESWAR l friday l july 10, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l JEYPORE EDITION Sir: Voter base in Odisha, Sikkim Mizoram & Manipur shrinks by 22L voter count down to 3.46 cr from 3.68 cr Around 22 lakh voters have been left out of the draft electoral rolls in Mizoram, Odisha, Manipur and Sikkim where Phase 3 of the SIR is underway 20 lakh names dropped in odisha alone The collective voter base in these states, which stood at 3.68 crore before the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, has now shrunk to 3.46 crore, according to data made available in the public domain over the past few days. People left out of the draft rolls still have a chance to be included in the final rolls to be published later this year ■ ■ The largest deletion of names—20.11 lakh—was in Odisha, where over 8.3 lakh electors were found to be deceased, while 10.07 lakh had either shifted residence or were found absent The four states are among the 16 states and three Union Territories where electoral roll revision is underway with a staggered schedule May 30 when phase 3 of the special intensive revision was rolled out 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 Gajapati’s Australia eases Day late, monsoon covers India ISKCON rejectsRath Yatra plea to observe uranium hurdle by adhering to scriptures in win-win deal Year & date when monsoon covered entire India Modi’s cricket analogy caps major push to enhance bilateral defence and trade ties India and Australia on Thursday finalised a long-pending arrangement for Australian uranium exports to India for peaceful civilian use and unveiled a sweeping defence and security framework, signalling a sharper convergence of interests in the Indo-Pacific. The announcements came after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Melbourne, where they also reaffirmed their commitment to concluding the long-delayed Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) and expanding cooperation in critical minerals, cyber security clean energy , and advanced technologies. Setting a light-hearted tone, Modi likened the bilateral relationship to cricket. “Our meetings feel like a cricket match— the agenda has the focus of a One-Day match, decisions are as fast as T20, and our partnership is as long and deep as a Test match,” he said. The centrepiece of the visit was the finalisation of the administrative arrangement under the 2014 India-Australia Civil Nuclear Agreement, clearing the way for Australia, one of the world’s largest uranium producers, to supply uranium for India’s civilian nuclear programme after years of delays over safeguards and implementation. No volume of uranium exports was announced. The leaders also issued a new ‘Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation’, replacing the 2009 security declaration and significantly broadening military engagement. The framework envisages stronger strategic coordination, more complex joint military exercises, greater interoperability between the armed forces, enhanced cyber cooperation, counter-terrorism collaboration, defence industrial 2025 29 June 2023 2 July 2022 2 July 2021 12 July PM Narendra Modi with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese at an event in Melbourne on Thursday | PTI Developing a critical minerals corridor The two sides unveiled the Australia-India Partnership on Cyber, Critical Technologies and Supply Chains (PACTS) and agreed to develop a critical minerals corridor to secure supply chains vital for clean energy and advanced manufacturing partnerships and humanitarian assistance. A key outcome was the launch of the ‘India-Australia Maritime Security Collaboration Roadmap’, alongside an MoU between the Indian Coast Guard and Australia’s Maritime Border Command to strengthen maritime domain awareness, information sharing and operational coordination. The expanded agenda comes as both countries seek to bolster cooperation amid China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific. Stressing the strategic significance of the region, Modi said, “The Indo-Pacific... symbolises the shared aspirations of like-minded democracies like India and Australia.” He announced the launch of an “India-Australia Defence Innovation Corridor” to connect defence industries and startups and said both nations would cooperate in shipbuilding, ship repair and maintenance. Australia will also host an Indian military instructor at the Australian Defence College in 2028-29. Maha forms panel for UCC implementation, seeks report in 6 months Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday announced a seven-member committee to prepare a draft proposal for implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state. He told the monsoon session of the Assembly that the panel will submit its recommendations within the next few months | P8 E x p r ess N e w s S e r v ice @ Bhubaneswar 2026 9 July 2024 2 July J ayanth J ac o b @ New Delhi Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand 2020 26 June 2019 19 July 2018 29 June 2017 19 July 2016 13 July 2015 26 June 2014 17 July A damaged building after a landslide near Kaddukhal on NH- 707A, in Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand | PTI J itend r a C h o ube y @ New Delhi The Southwest monsoon on Thursday fully covered the entire nation, marking a day’s delay from the normal arrival date of July 8. The last time it covered the whole country by July 9 was in 2011. This year’s monsoon onset over Kerala occurred on June 4, which was three days later than the climatological normal date of June 1. Last year, the monsoon had covered the entire nation by June 29, almost nine days earlier than normal. At 108%, last year’s monsoon was well above normal. In contrast, this year’s precipitation is expected to be the reverse. In June, the monsoon deficit was 40% of the long-period average, resulting in the fifth lowest rainfall (99.5 mm) ever recorded for that month. However, good rainfall since July has helped reduce the deficit to -15.2% by July 9. India has received a total of 195.5 mm of rainfall in the current season, compared to the total long-term expectation of 230.4 mm. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the monsoon advanced further into the remaining parts of the north Arabian Sea, Rajasthan, Haryana and Pun- HC allows Mamata’s TMC to use funds from frozen accounts S U B H E N D U M A I T I @ Kolkata The Calcutta High Court on Thursday allowed the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) to use funds from its frozen bank accounts for day-to-day administrative and legal expenses. The accounts with a private bank, worth around `440 crore, were made debit-frozen on June 19 by Bidhannagar cyber police following a complaint by the rebel faction led by MLAs Ritabrata Banerjee and Sandipan Saha claiming the funds contained “proceeds of crime”. While issuing an interim order, Justice Saugata Bhattacharyya noted that prima facie, the complaint appeared omnibus in nature without pinpointing any transaction. “The court is unable to find particular materials which could have been the basis of such abrupt steps,” Justice Bhattacharyya observed. The court appointed retired judge Subrata Talukdar as a special officer to handle the banking transactions of the frozen accounts till September 30. The special officer can release funds required for day-to-day political activities of the TMC faction aligned to Mamata Banerjee. “No other expenditure, major or minor, shall be permitted,” the order said. It added that funds can be withdrawn against cheques signed by two approved signatories. The signed cheques must be presented before the special officer, who will verify and countersign before releasing them to the bank. Ayatollah laid to rest, Iran hits US military bases and strategic centres in Gulf countries A G E N C I E S @ Mashhad Amid fresh escalation in its conflict with the US, Iran on Thursday buried its slain supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a shrine in his hometown in Mashhad, marking the culmination of a week of mass funeral processions and rallies. As the body of Khamenei, who was killed in a US airstrike on the first day of the war on February 28, was taken through crammed streets of Mashhad, a sea of black-clad mourners waved Iranian flags, photographs of the late leader and red placards with revolutionary slogans. Many reportedly called for re- A truck carrying the remains of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and members of his family in Mashhad, northeastern Iran, on Thursday | ap venge and rejected any compromise with the US to end the war. Beating their chests and weeping, mourners lined the route as they waited for Khamenei’s coffin to arrive at the city’s shrine of Imam Reza, the holiest site for Shia Muslims in Iran and the burial place he had chosen in his will. Early in the day Tehran attacked , “US bases and strategic centres” in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar after Washington bombed Iranian cities for a second consecutive night. Reports said sirens sounded in Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters, and Jordan, where the US has stationed troops and aircraft. Iran said it fired 10 ballistic missiles at Jordan’s Azraq military base, which hosts the US Air Forces Central’s 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing. Raigad dist, Maharashtra Gas cylinders adrift in the Patalganga after being swept away from a HPCL bottling plant, in Raigad district | PTI jab on Thursday, thus covering the entire country It also forecast a below-normal to . deficient rainfall for the country, anticipating around 90% of the long-period average from June to September. This below-normal expectation is attributed to the emergence of a strong El Niño phenomenon, which refers to the abnormal warming of the East Pacific Ocean. In India, El Niño is synonymous with a weaker monsoon. The IMD also predicted a fresh cyclonic circulation over Bay of Bengal adjoining Odisha and West Bengal in the next few days. The poor monsoon affected kharif sowing, with only 350 lakh hectares sown so far — about 92 lakh hectares less than normal. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has turned down Puri king Gajapati Maharaja Dibyasingha Deb’s request to align the observance of Lord Jagannath’s Snana Yatra and Rath Yatra in overseas centres with the sacred tithis prescribed by scriptures and followed at the Puri shrine. In its response to the Gajapati’s July 4 letter, ISKCON governing body commission (GBC) chairman Madhusevita Dasa said the organisation would not revisit its position on the issue. “There is no more to add, and therefore we respectfully bow out of this discussion once and for all,” he wrote, ruling out any reconsideration of ISKCON’s decision to conduct Rath Yatra outside India on dates adhering to the Srimandir’s calendar. The Gajapati, who chairs the Shree Jagannath Temple Managing There is no more to add, and therefore we respectfully bow out of this discussion once and for all Madhusevita Dasa, ISKCON GBC chairman Committee (SJTMC), had urged ISKCON to review its October 19, 2025 resolution allowing flexible dates for the festivals abroad. He had suggested that the manner of celebrations may vary depending on local circumstances but the religious calendar governing the festivals is immutable. In his letter, the Gajapati reiterated that Snana Yatra is ordained to be observed on the Jyestha Purnima tithi, while Rath Yatra begins on Asadha Shukla Paksha Dwitiya as laid down in Jagannath temple rituals. “The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has firmly stated that while it is permissible to adapt or modify the manner of celebrating these sacred Yatras on the bas i s o f “ d e s h - k a l a - p at r a nyaya”, it is not permissible under any circumstances to alter the tithi of the Yatras,” he added. Continued on P5