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 ■ ■ BHUBANESWAR l tuesday l january 20, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late CITY EDITION Reveal logical discrepancy list in WB: SC express news service @ New Delhi/Kolkata THE Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission of India to publicly display names of 1.25 crore voters flagged for “logical discrepancies” at gram panchayat offices, block headquarters, and ward offices in the state. Logical discrepancies, linked to the 2002 voter list, include mismatches in parents’ names and biologically implausible age gaps between voters and their parents (less than 15 years or exceeding 50 years). A three-judge bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Dipankar Datta and Joymalya Bagchi said those likely to be affected by the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in West Bengal should be allowed to submit their documents or objections. Directing that the exercise be conducted smoothly , the bench said, “Let us ensure that this exercise runs smoothly, it is timely completed by ensuring a transparent measure giving fair opportunity to all those who feel because of some discrepancy they are under unnecessary doubt.” Speaking at a rally in Barasat, TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee interpreted the Supreme Court’s direction to the Election Commission as “slaps on faces of those who tried to deprive people of the fundamental right to vote.” Shinde volte-face, says will accept BJP formula After asserting his position by seeking equal sharing of the Mumbai mayor’s post and key Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation committees, Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde on Monday said he was not placing any demands before the BJP and that there was no dispute over posts or power | P8 Nitin Nabin unopposed candidate for BJP prez The 45-year-old leader is youngest ever to take the hot seat RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR @ New Delhi NITIN Nabin, 45, on Monday emerged as the unopposed candidate for the BJP national president. A formal announcement on his election will be made on Tuesday A five-term Bi. har MLA and currently the party‘s national working president, Nabin will be the youngest to occupy the top seat. He will succeed veteran leader J P Nadda. His candidature was backed by top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. On Monday in line with organ, isational rules, outgoing party chief Nadda and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh handed over Nabin’s nomination papers to K Laxman, the returning officer for the election, at the par ty’s central of fice. Thereafter, Arunachal CM Pema Khandu and BJP leaders from Bihar, Andhra, Maharashtra, Assam, Outgoing BJP chief J P Nadda, Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Kiren Rijiju, and other senior leaders proposing the name of Nitin Nabin for BJP National President during the nomination process, at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi on Monday | PTI and Jharkhand submitted papers in his support. In all, 37 sets of papers favouring Nabin were filed, paving the way for his unopposed election as the BJP’s 12th national president. Nabin is taking over at a crucial time as he will have to lead the party through the Assembly elections in West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala. The first BJP chief to hail from Bihar, Nabin has travelled extensively across Jaishankar warns poland ‘Don’t fuel terror in our neighbourhood’ J ayanth jac o b @ New Delhi External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday delivered a blunt message to Poland, warning it not to take actions that help fuel terrorist infrastructure in India’s neighbourhood. “You are no stranger to our region and are certainly familiar with the longstanding challenge of cross-border terrorism,” Jaishankar said in his televised opening remarks during talks with his Polish counterpart Radoslaw Sikorski in New Delhi. “Poland should display zero tolerance for terrorism and not help fuel the terrorist infrastructure in our neighbourhood.” The remarks reflect New Delhi’s unease over a reference to Kashmir in a Poland-Pakistan joint statement, issued during Sikorski’s visit to Islamabad in October, which went against India’s position on the issue. Jaishankar also criticised the West’s “selective targeting” of India over New Delhi’s energy ties with Moscow. Sikorski’s threeday visit to India comes days ahead of a visit by the EU’s top leadership to New Delhi. states since becoming BJP working president on December 14, 2025. During his interactions with cadre, his common message has been to become full-time politicians and give their 100% to serve people. He entered mainstream politics in 2006, when the BJP fielded him from the Patna West Assembly constituency following the death of his father Navin Kishore Sinha, who had close ties with the RSS. E x p r e s s Re a d Nuapada now free of Maoists: Police Bhubaneswar: Odisha Police on Monday claimed Nuapada has become a Naxal-free district following the surrender of nine cadres of the banned CPI (Maoist)in Chhattisgarh | P2 Govt to bring Bill to simplify land laws Bhubaneswar: Revenue minister Suresh Pujari said the state government is set to introduce a Bill in the upcoming budget session of the Assembly for simplifying the complex revenue laws | P3 India, UAE set $200 bn trade target New Delhi: India and the UAE set a target of doubling bilateral trade to $200 bn in six years and moved towards the signing of a formal strategic defence partnership in the near future | P7 Robbers strike Barbil bank, loot `5 cr gold EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Barbil/Keonjhar The Bank of Maharashtra branch where the dacoity took place in Barbil on Monday afternoon In a daring heist, armed robbers decamped with 3.7 kg gold jewellery worth over `5 crore along with `4.35 lakh cash by holding staff and customers at gunpoint in the Bank of Maharashtra branch in Barbil on Monday . The incident took place around 2.05 pm when about five to six masked robbers entered the branch located along Barbil-Kalinga state highway and carried out the entire plan in just 15-20 minutes. The bank branch is located near the Truck Owners Association office. Police sources said, just two bank staff and a handful of customers were present when the robbers walked in. Holding the staff at gunpoint, the robbers first collected the mobile phones of all customers. The helmet wearing miscreants then locked them inside a room and forced the branch manager to open the locker where mortgaged gold jewellery was kept. Before leaving, they also took away the CCTV recorder, but returned the mobile phones to the customers and bank staff. Since the bank primarily offers goal loans, the robbers are believed to have targeted the branch. They chose the immediate postlunch hours to rob the bank as attendance is generally thin around the time. Also, there was no security guard present at the branch when the incident took Continued on P5 place.  ne x t i c c o p t i o n s Forfeiture or Scotland in place of B’desh swar o o p swaminathan @ Chennai THE International Cricket Council (ICC) continues to juggle multiple T20 World Cup related issues even though the event is now less than three weeks away . It’s understood that multiple stakeholders are deep in conversation with respect to Bangladesh’s insistence on not playing their games in India. If in case the ICC doesn’t relent and Bangladesh withdraw, the world governing body has to consider the way forward. And time is very limited before the first set of matches on February 7. It’s understood that one of the ways could be a last minute invitation to Scotland to fill the Bangladeshsized hole in Group C. Scotland, by virtue of being the highest-ranked team to not qualify for the event, will be one of the first teams to get a call. What adds to the intrigue is that when contacted by this daily, a Cricket Scotland source said they ‘aren’t commenting’ on the matter. But do remember that Jersey finished higher than Scotland in the actual qualifiers but they are not expected to be an option. The other option ICC has is a straightforward forfeit. That would mean that the other four teams in Group C essentially beginning the tournament with a win against their names. But that may not be palatable to the broadcasters who have spent a lot of money to secure the rights for this event. Lack of four live games results in a loss of revenue. If Scotland does come, the very lopsided nature of Group C — the other teams are England, West Indies, Nepal and Italy — could give a potential advantage to two of the former champions. TVK chief and actor Vijay leaves the CBI headquarters in New Delhi after the second round of questioning over the Karur stampede on Monday | PTI