KOCHI l thursday l September 24, 2026 l `10.00 l PAGES 16 l LATE city EDITION Germany ready to sign $8 billion submarine agreement with India The India-Germany deal to build six submarines under Project 75(I) has been finalised on the German side, its envoy to India Dr Jasper Wieck said Waiting for India’s green light: German envoy Review of tech transfer package pending “It has already been finalised and the German side has agreed to it. It is now up to the Indian side to complete and conclude its internal processes,” Wieck said. The proposed deal, estimated at C90,000 crore, sees India’s Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders partnering with Germany’s Thyssenkrupp to build six conventional submarines in India, with technology transfer ■ ■ A review of the proposed technology-transfer package remains among steps before the project can get final approval in India A key aspect of the proposed deal is the transfer of fuel-cell Air-Independent Propulsion technology, which allows conventional submarines to operate longer without the need to access surface air 2023 When Germany stepped in as foreign partner for project 75 (i) 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 Constitution bench to hear case on axing CJI from ECI pick panel In split verdict, Justice Dipankar Datta raps ’23 law dropping CJI from selection committee adjudication.Both judges also recorded concerns over the pendency of THE Supreme Court on Wednesday Constitution bench matters and redirected that a batch of petitions quested the Chief Justice to explore challenging the 2023 law governing the possibility of forming a permathe appointments to the Election nent Constitution bench. The 2023 law was enacted Commission be decided by a by Parliament after the SC’s Constitution bench after a Constitution Bench judgdivision bench delivered a ment in Anoop Baranwal v split verdict on whether the Union of India case directed matter should be referred to that appointments to the poll a larger bench as sought by panel be made on the advice the Centre. of a committee comprising Justice Dipankar Datta rethe Prime Minister, Leader jected the Union’s plea for a Justice Dipankar of Opposition in the Lok reference to a larger bench, Datta Sharma Sabha, and the Chief Justice while Justice Satish Chanof India until Parliament endra Sharma saw the need for acted a law. substantial interpretation While the law—the Chief of law. Justice Sharma said Election Commissioner and in his separate opinion that other Election Commissionthe arguments advanced on ers (Appointment, Condibehalf of the Centre by the tions of Service and Term of Attorney General R VenkaOffice) Act, 2023—retained taramani and Solicitor GenJustice Satish the format of the panel, it reeral Tushar Mehta for referChandra Sharma placed CJI with a Union ring the issue to a larger minister. Justice Datta made bench are well-founded. Despite the differences in opinion, strong observations about the comboth judges directed that the papers position of the selection panel, saying it hands the executive a veto in be placed before the Chief Justice of India for setting up a Constitution appointments. He said the Union bench of not less than five judges, minister, serving at the pleasure of noting that sending the matter to a the PM, cannot act as a neutral check three-judge bench could only delay in the selection panel. S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi EXPRESS READ SIT formed to probe charges against Pinarayi T’Puram: The state police have constituted a nine-member SIT to conduct a preliminary inquiry against former CM Pinarayi Vijayan and his family on the allegations raised by the ED in connection with Exalogic-CMRL pay-off case. The team will be led by Crime ADGP H Venkatesh, while Crime Branch SP P Vikraman is the inquiry officer. P4 IIT prof sent on leave over student’s death Mumbai: IIT Bombay Professor Suryanarayana Doolla, who is an accused in the alleged suicide death of a 20-year-old second-year B Tech student Sahil Wakode, has been sent on compulsory leave to enable an impartial probe, sources said on Wednesday. 16 pages, including 4 pages of KOCHI Express Oppn renews demand to scrap SIR, impeach CEC PA R V E Z S U LTA N & M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi OPPOSITION parties on Wednesday targeted Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar after a media report suggested that the two election commissioners — Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi — objected to some orders pertaining to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, even as the poll panel claimed all its decisions were unanimous. Citing the report, Opposition parties called for action against the CEC and demanded that SIR be scrapped. While the Congress renewed its demand for Kumar’s impeachment, the TMC, AAP, and Shiv Sena (UBT) called for his arrest. Rejecting the media report, the Election Gyanesh Kumar, Commission said differing views are a CEC normal part of deliberation in any institution and stated that all its orders “are an outcome of the unanimous decisions of the full Commission in the past one year”. According to the report, the two ECs’ objections were about the way the statutory voter registration Form 6 was amended, the handling of additions and deletions from voter lists, and centralised control over the electoral roll database. Speaking to this paper, former CEC O P Rawat said the way changes to Form 6 were brought about was “absolutely wrong and illegal”. According to him, the reported objections raised by the two ECs were ‘a very serious issue’. Why not private favours, asks CM Satheesan E x press N e w s S ervice @T’Puram legendary hug Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho and Indian icon I M Vijayan greet each other before the ‘Return of the Titans’ exhibition match at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi on Wednesday. Another Brazilian superstar, Rivaldo, is also seen | T P Sooraj | P2 Weight, wait off lifter Mirabai’s shoulders FIRST, the news. Express @ asian games Mirabai Nagoya Chanu, 32, won her first Asian Games medal here on Wednesday: silver, India’s first in any weightlifting discipline at this level since Karnam Malleswari in 1998. It is like completing the Grand Slam for a tennis player or a treble with the World Cup for a footballer. But the story of her medal goes beyond the news. Mirabai’s lifting is Indraneel Das no longer about barbells and weights. It has transcended that. Doctors, and nutritionists have become part of her life. Preparation no longer depends only on lifting weights and training. It goes beyond that. Every time she has been written off, she has found a way That is why this medal would . be rated among the biggest of her career. Not because it took her 12 years, but because of the timing — when the body is ageing, with aching bones and muscles because of injuries and when the end is in sight. P11 Amid questions over transparency and accountability surrounding his recent chartered flight to flash flood-hit Malappuram, a visibly annoyed Chief Minister V D Satheesan lashed out at reporters, justifying his acceptance of private favours on the grounds that it saved public money . He maintained that he was under no obligation to disclose who paid for the flight, brushing aside questions about the identity of the private individual who footed the bill. The chief minister made it clear that he would undertake similar chartered journeys in the future as well. “What is wrong with that? I will travel again if required,” Satheesan said. He said he had a list of ministers and chief ministers from previous governments who had travelled on privately arranged aircraft, and maintained that he saw nothing improper in it. The Chief Minister’s defence, however, handed fresh ammunition to the opposition, with the CPM accusing Satheesan of violating his oath of office by accepting a privately sponsored flight for an official visit. CPM state secretary M V Govindan questioned why the CM was unwilling to disclose the identity of the person who paid for ● More on P4 the journey  . S o o r y a K ris h n a m o o rt h y ( 1 9 5 1 - 2 0 2 6 ) Sun sets on Keralam’s cultural realm A s w in A sok K umar @T’Puram “If God offers to grant me a wish, I would pray that as an artist I should never be a mercenary. I should be able to continue like this till my death.” This was how Soorya Krishnamoorthy 75, chose to portray his life , in a free-wheeling chat with TNIE for Express Dialogues a couple of years ago. An artist-turned-art connoisseur, he lived a life upholding the virtues he held dear until the end. The renowned cultural icon and the architect behind Keralam’s biggest cultural fiesta for nearly five decades passed away at 6.45pm on Wednesday at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. He had been undergoing treatment for lung-related issues for the past few years. A space scientist-turned-artist, Krishnamoorthy founded the Soorya Stage and Film Society and was the brain behind Soorya Festival, the annual event that entered the Limca Book of Records as Asia’s largest and longest-running cultural festival. He is credited with nurturing hundreds of artists through the fest. For him, celebrity status was never the criteria for choosing artists for the festival. Instead, he went by talent and dedication to devote months towards practising. The former chairperson of Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi, Krishnamoorthy during his artistic , career spanning over five decades, served as the writer-director of numerous plays that were staged across ● More on P4 the globe.  Russia sanctions law: India raises concerns with US J ayanth J aco b @ New Delhi External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has raised India’s “interests and concerns” over the United States’ new Russia sanctions legislation during a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly . “Reiterated India’s interests and concerns with regard to SRIA. Also discussed the Gulf and Ukraine situations,” Jaishankar said in a post on X following the meeting. The talks between the two leaders came after US President Donald Trump signed the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 into law last Friday . It gives the US President the authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries, including India and China purchase Russian oil and gas.