FOLLOW US: @TheStatesmanLtd @thestatesmanltd thestatesman1875 www.thestatesman.com People’s Parliament, Always in Session India’s National Newspaper since 1818 | Pages 12 | ` 5.00 | KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR | SPORTS WORLD NATION EAM outlines key priorities for India’s BRICS chairship Page 5 Death toll from protests in Iran spikes to at least 2,000 Contrived confusion over the Aravallis Page 9 Page 7 STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE Kolkata, 13 January C in SIR data, leading to mass deletions. “They deleted the names of women who changed their surnames after marriage. This is a deliberate attempt to target the women vote bank because the BJP cannot fight us politically,” the Trinamul Congress chairperson alleged. The chief minister said people were forced to wait for hours without clarity on whose names had been removed. “The draft list was released only the day before yesterday. It is impossible for people to go through crores of pages to find their names. Voters have been removed unethically, without any explanation,” she said. Miss Banerjee further alleged that the concept of “logical discrepancy” was not part of the original SIR verification process and was introduced later to facilitate further deletions. Kohli’s form keeps India on course ahead of Rajkot ODI PERSPECTIVE CM Mamata slams ECI, flags 54 lakh ‘unilateral’ voter deletions hief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday came down heavily on the Election Commission of India, alleging that the deletion of 54 lakh names from the draft electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state was carried out unilaterally and through a misuse of powers vested in Electoral Registration Officers (EROs). Addressing a press conference at the state secretariat, Nabanna, Miss Banerjee claimed that a majority of the deleted names belonged to “genuine electors” who were denied an opportunity to defend themselves as they were not informed of the reasons for deletion. She alleged that the Election Commission, “while sitting in Delhi,” used artificial intelligence tools “devised by the BJP” to identify so-called mismatches Wednesday, 14 January 2026 “In the name of logical discrepancy, they have prepared a list of 1.36 lakh voters. We don’t know who these people are. They have not given us any list,” she alleged. Claiming a “BJP-EC nexus,” she warned that plans were underway to remove another one crore names from the final electoral rolls. She also accused the Election Commission of preventing Booth Level Agents (BLA-2s) from attending hearings. “Micro-observers, who are BJP’s cronies, have been deployed only in Bengal, though SIR rules do not allow it. Because of this process, 84 people have died, four have committed suicide and 17 have suffered strokes. In total, 105 lives are in crisis,” Miss Banerjee alleged. “There is a case in court and we have full faith in the judiciary. We will speak for the cause of the people,” the chief minister said, requesting people not to get scared or take extreme steps like suicide. Page 12 Pak sought ceasefire after ‘connecting the dots’: Army Chief PARWINDER SANDHU New Delhi, 13 January Reminding Islamabad that “Operation Sindoor is still ongoing,” Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi on Tuesday warned that “any misadventure by the adversary will be dealt with effectively.” Addressing a Press conference ahead of the Army Day, General Dwivedi spoke extensively about Operation Sindoor, carried out against terrorists and terror hubs in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The Operation was launched in May 2025 by India to avenge the killings of 26 tourists in the Pahalgam terror attack. “Through 22 minutes of initiation on 7 May and an orchestration that lasted 88 hours up to 10 May, the operation reset strategic assumptions by striking deep, dismantling terror infrastructure, and puncturing the longstanding nuclear rhetoric,” he said. Talking about how Pakistan was forced to approach India for a ceasefire, Gen. Dwivedi said that it was after they were able to “connect some dots” in the course of the conflict. “On the morning of May 10, certain orders regarding what needed to be done if the fight escalated were issued to all three armed forces. The message of what would happen if the fighting continued was understood by whoever needed to understand it,” he said. “Pakistan had access to satellite imagery that showed the movement of Indian naval assets, strike corps and aircraft. When they connected the dots, they realised that it was the right time to stop the fight.” Centre reins in 10-minute delivery: New Delhi: Coming as a major relief to gig workers, the Union Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya has persuaded major delivery aggregators to remove the mandatory 10-minute delivery deadline. A meeting was held with leading platforms including Blinkit, Zepto, Zomato and Swiggy among others to address concerns related to delivery timelines. As per reports, quick commerce firms, such as Blinkit and Zepto, have voluntarily decided to halt their 10-minute delivery claims after labour minister Mansukh Mandaviya raised the issue.