For the third day in a row, leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) protested in Delhi against alleged “vote chori [theft]” and demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, staging a symbolic satyagraha at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial at Rajghat. Following two days of face-offs with the Delhi Police, the Opposition leaders were allowed to hold a peaceful protest at Rajghat without being prevented from reaching there.

The counting of votes polled for bypolls to five Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Puducherry, and one Lok Sabha seat in Assam will take place today. Follow live results here. In Tamil Nadu’s Madurantakam and Dharapuram counting will be taken up amidst a three-tier security cover. The crucial by-polls held after the TVK came to power in May is viewed as a test for its popularity while the opposition AIADMK hopes to regain the seats lost to the TVK in the April Assembly elections. Meanwhile, the results from West Bengal’s Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly bypolls will likely indicate the political mood in the State after the BJP replaced the TMC after 15 years in power.

Ahead of the October 10 protest in Delhi, several groups, including the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), alleged that protesters were being picked up from across the country. “This government has crossed all limits now. A group of students from Pune was on its way to Delhi to join the October 10 protest. They have been detained midway and are now being taken away in a bus to an unknown location,” the CJP stated.

With the police calling up volunteers, holding meetings with residents and using loudspeakers to announce that prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) are in place near Jantar Mantar and youth organisations going door-to-door to mobilise those affected by the special intensive revision (SIR) process, people are in a dilemma over whether to join the protest on October 10 seeking removal of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and suspension of the SIR drive.

At least 70 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), comprising around 7,000 personnel, who are currently deployed in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh, are being mobilised for law-and-order duties in Delhi, ahead of the protest called by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) on October 10, according to two official communications issued on October 5 and 6. A CRPF communication accessed by The Hindu asked the Chhattisgarh units to maintain full operational strength and carry the latest equipment, arms, and ammunition.

The security cover of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has been further strengthened amid protests by Opposition parties over alleged irregularities in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Additional personnel have been deployed outside his Delhi residence in New Moti Bagh Colony, at the Election Commission office and for his personal security, officials in the know said.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) rejected allegations that it was shielding oligarchs from competition by delaying approvals for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service in India. Trillionaire Elon Musk, however, doubled down on his criticism, amplifying several posts supporting Starlink’s launch in India, also questioning industrialist Mukesh Ambani, asking if he was the “real boss” of India.

Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi urged authorities to respond to student grievances with restraint and empathy. “Students are our children... listen to their concerns, don’t hit them with sticks... no solution could be reached through the use of force against young people,” he said.

India strongly condemned the recent attacks on two airports in Saudi Arabia, asserting that targeting civilian infrastructure is completely “unacceptable”. Saudi authorities said three people have been killed in attacks reportedly carried out by Houthi militants over the last two days on Abha International Airport and King Khalid airport.

The Delhi Police has stepped up its social media campaign ahead of the October 10 protest at Jantar Mantar, with its perception management wing working to counter what officials describe as a “cyber warfare” campaign that, according to the force, had projected the police in a negative light during the Cockroach Janta Party’s (CJP) July demonstration. “Concentrated efforts are being made to show the police’s side of the story. The effort is being made based on the learning from our past experience during the July protest of the CJP, and efforts are being made to draw engagement on social media platforms,” an official close to the matter said.

The Supreme Court re-scheduled by a day an appeal filed by the State of Punjab against a State High Court order for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into corruption allegations linked to Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s office. The State of Punjab, in its appeal before the apex court, said the High Court direction for a CBI probe suffered from errors such as treating information shared under Section 66(2) of the PMLA as a direction that makes registration “inevitable”, contrary to the 2022 decision of the apex court in the Vijay Madanlal Choudhary case.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) questioned the conduct of Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with women police personnel during protest against alleged “vote theft” and the actions of the Election Commission of India (ECI). At a press conference, the BJP showed video clips of alleged incidents, claiming that they exposed the Congress’ “frustration and the arrogance of privileged dynastic politics”. BJP spokesperson Sidharth Yadav accused Mr. Gandhi of “inappropriately touching” one policewoman and Ms. Vadra of “elbowing” another.

Air India Group and IndiGo cancelled and diverted several services to Riyadh as carriers monitored an evolving regional situation, disrupting travel between India and the Saudi capital. The disruption comes after Iran-aligned Houthi rebels attacked Saudi Arabia, with a missile fired towards Riyadh International Airport. Air India said its flight AI2243, operating from Delhi to Riyadh, returned to Delhi on Thursday in the interest of passenger and crew safety. The service was subsequently cancelled, with full refunds offered to passengers.

American scientist Margaret Hamilton, who led the development of the computer system used by NASA’s Apollo lunar programme, has died at the age of 90, her former employer said. In a statement, the Massachussetts Institute of Technology called Hamilton, who taught at the prestigious university from 1959 to the mid-1970s, a “computing pioneer” and said she died on September 30.

“The death toll in the Seemapuri building collapse rose to five after two more bodies were recovered from the debris at the site in east Delhi,” an official said. “The two deceased have been identified as Nusrat alias Guria and Hajra Bibi,” he said. The victims found earlier included a 12-year-old girl, 21-year-old Gulafsa, who was around four months pregnant, and a child aged around one-and-a-half years.

In a slew of sweeping measures to curb sexual offences in the national capital, the Supreme Court has ordered enhanced patrolling around educational institutions, stringent verification of drivers operating public transport and app-based cabs, real-time monitoring of vehicle-tracking and SOS systems, and action against establishments serving liquor unlawfully.

“When I landed here in Bengaluru yesterday, I saw social media posts claiming that Dhruv Rathee is coming to change the regime. I am not here to change the regime, neither has Soros funded this trip. I have come here to support this fight against vote theft,” said YouTuber Dhruv Rathee, who was in Bengaluru for his “first protest” against the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which has so far led to deletions of 13 crore names at the draft stage. Amid a sea of yellow-red Karnataka flags and national flags and shouts of “Vote Chor, Gaddi Chod”, thousands of people turned up for the protest at the Freedom Park, including hundreds whose names had been marked as absent, shifted or dead, as well as people who came to show that they were “eligible voters” and did not want their names deleted, as sought by others through Form 7.

The U.S. suspended IT firms Cognizant, Infosys, Tata, Wipro, HCL, Capgemini, Microsoft and Adobe from the Permanent Labour Certification Programme, which allows companies to apply for green cards for H-1B visa workers. The Department of Labour is also suspending Microsoft and Adobe from the program.

India’s Asian Games campaign was salvaged in the last couple of days but the Sports Ministry has not taken kindly to the below-par show from several disciplines and athletes. Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will hold a detailed, day-long review of India’s overall showing next week. India returned with 85 medals from Aichi-Nagoya including 21 gold, 27 silver and 37 bronze — 21 less than the previous edition — but it’s the number of gold lost that is a matter of concern for the Minister and ministry officials.