Lula’s victory in Brazil bucks shift to the right Brazil’s leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was re-elected against all expectations on Sunday, beating his rival Flavio Bolsonaro Lula’s dramatic comeback meant Brazil had not followed Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Peru, all backed by US President Donald Trump, in swinging to the right. Meanwhile, Serbia’s populist strongman Aleksandar Vucic conceded defeat to a grassroots movement of students who led protests for almost two years | P11 belagavi l tuesday l october 27, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 14 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 EC affidavit in SC says all SIR decisions unanimous Reiterates Form 6 not amended, declaration separate document Final electoral roll under SIR to be out today S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi Days ahead of the INDIA bloc’s rally against alleged poll irregularities, the Election Commission of India told the Supreme Court that all its orders on the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls were unanimous decisions of the full commission. In its counter affidavit, the ECI said the plea against the Chief Election Commissioner based on a single news report is not maintainable. It also told the bench that Form 6 had not been amended, adding unmapped voters need not attend hearings. The court is expected to hear the batch of pleas on Tuesday . The ECI asserted that all three SIR orders — issued in June 2025, October 2025 and May 2026 — were unanimous. “The notes, queries or suggestions recorded by the CEC or Election Commissioners while a file is under process do not constitute decisions of the Commission,” it said. The EC said files move from one Election Commissioner to the other and then to the CEC. In urgent cases, electronic approvals are obtained and later recorded on physical files, it said. The EC said a July 28 work allocation order was issued by an additional secretary on deputation and both poll commissioners wrote to the Cabinet B osky K hanna @ Bengaluru Response to Goa case ECI said that of the 97 voters described by media as “left out” in Goa, 88 had already been enrolled, six were abroad, and three had Portuguese passports Secretary about it the next day . On their joint direction on July 30, the order was not implemented. On the charge that Form 6 was altered without statutory approval, the EC claimed it was not amended as the declaration required under SIR was a separate document. While admitting the online display could be read as an amendment, the ECI said, from October 21, the online application would be split into Form 6 and separate declaration, mirroring the physical form. Unmapped voters need not attend hearings, the ECI said, stating that Booth Level Officers will collect documents from their homes, with hearings restricted to exceptional cases and preferably held online. On ECINet centralisation, it said no name can be added/deleted except by an order of the Electoral Registration Officer. The final electoral roll as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) will be released on October 27, 2026 by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka. Election officials said, “The number of electors will again change from what was announced in the draft electoral rolls published on August 24, 2026 due to inclusions and deletions. Foreign nationals who were so far included in the rolls have been removed under SIR.” The draft electoral roll listed 4,46,80,151 electors -- 2,21,59,240 males, 2,24,73,864 females and 2,871 others. The officials said that forms of electors received during the claims and objections period (from June 16 to September 23) were processed for inclusion in the final electoral rolls. The forms received after that will be included/deleted in the subsequent supplementary rolls. Data from the CEO’s office showed that a total of 19,50,446 forms were received for processing during the claims and objections period.  P7 Digital publishers challenge privacy law in SC S U C H I T R A K A LYA N M O H A N T Y @ New Delhi twenty-one digital news publishers—including NDTV and Network18—have knocked the doors of the Supreme Court to challenge the Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDP Act), arguing that the law would cripple investigative jour nalism and expose sources. The petitioner, Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA), has challenged several provisions of the Act, citing their potential impact on journalism. The New Indian Express is a member of DNPA. A bench headed by Chief DNPA seeks safeguards for journalists According to a Reuters report, media companies received assurances in an August meeting with the government that the law would protect press freedom; but not having a written carve-out for journalists like in the European Union, Singapore and the UK is alarming, the DNPA said in its petition Justice Surya Kant will hear the matter on Tuesday, the cause list on the Supreme Court website showed. According to Reuters, the 698-page plea was filed on October 6. The DPDP Act, also known as the privacy law, was enacted in 2023 while the rules to implement it (DPDP Rules, 2025) were notified in November last year. The Act seeks to protect the digital personal data of users, raising compliance requirements for IT behemoths such as Meta and Google. The publishers argue the law will affect press freedom because media outlets are not explicitly exempt from the law. They point out that the legislation, which seeks to protect in- Will decide on cane farmers’ demands by Oct 29, says DKS E x p ress ne w s ser v ice @ Belagavi “The state government will decide on sugarcane farmers’ demands by October 29, after discussions with the Union government’s advisory committee and farmer leaders,” said Chief Minister DK Shivakumar here on Monday . Talking to the media after a meeting with farmers, he appealed to farmers to cooperate with sugar factories and allow the sugarcane crushing season to begin. He warned that prolonged disruption could put growers themselves in difficulty. Shivakumar said the state Chief minister DK Shivkumar addresses farmers during the meeting in Belagavi on Monday | Express government cannot take a final decision on farmers’ demands without discussions with officials and a revision of the min- imum support price (MSP) by the Centre. He acknowledged that securing the cooperation of sugar factories would be difficult under the prevailing circumstances. Shivakumar sad he will meet the Centre’s advisory committee, constituted to look into sugarcane growers’ demands, and farmer leaders on October 29 to discuss the demands and arrive at a decision. He assured farmers that the state government stood by them in their demand for a revision of sugar MSP. Shivakumar said he has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to revise the MSP on sugar. P4 dividuals’ digital personal information, does not provide specific exemptions for journalistic activities. A big concern for publishers is the need to obtain consent from those whose data will be part of a story According to the . petitioners, ​ ocial media outs lets can seek ​ onsent from usc ers when they sign up, but requiring a journalist to notify the subject of an investigation and seek consent “would allow that subject to destroy evidence, intimidate witnesses”. The law also lets people withdraw consent and demand that their data be erased. This could force publishers to withdraw news reports. E x p ress R e a d B’luru blast: Court junks bail pleas of 16 accused Bengaluru: The NIA Special Court rejected the bail pleas filed by 16 accused who have been charged with serious offences, including waging war against the nation, in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blast case. The special court said the Supreme Court granted it one year to pronounce judgment | P7 Govt nod to pure ethanol flex-fuel vehicles New Delhi: The Road Transport Ministry on Monday notified changes to the Central Motor Vehicles Rules 1989, allowing flexfuel vehicles that can run on up to E100 (nearly pure ethanol). It said the amendments update emission certification provisions by including E100 alongside E85 | P10