Delhi Women Safety: Supreme Court Orders Stepped-Up Patrolling After Recent Assault Cases

Bengali film actor and former Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member Koel Mallick has officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. The move comes a day after the BJP nominated her for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections from West Bengal. Mallick, who previously had a brief tenure as a TMC parliamentarian, resigned following her former party's electoral setback. Welcomed by Bengal BJP General Secretary Shashi Agnihotri, Mallick will file her nomination for the Upper House seat. With the BJP holding a two-thirds majority in the West Bengal Assembly, her election to the Rajya Sabha is expected to proceed smoothly as the party continues its outreach towards the state's cultural community.

The Supreme Court is set to hear a series of petitions demanding the suspension of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and challenging unilateral decisions made by the Election Commission. The pleas call for declaring the Special Intensive Revision exercise illegal, quashing fourteen decisions taken without full commissioner approval, initiating an independent judicial probe, and conducting a forensic audit of technical portals including ECI Net and ERO Net. Petitions also seek prosecution of officials and an inquiry into alleged Form 6 modifications. Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan highlighted that citizenship and voting rights are intertwined, noting that wholesale disenfranchisement of citizens violates constitutional provisions.

A comprehensive panel discussion examined the evolving framework of global commerce, focusing on the proposed India-European Union free trade agreement and strategic bilateral relations. The dialogue addressed market access terms covering over two billion people and a quarter of global gross domestic product, with India offering ninety-two point five per cent of tariff lines and the European Union opening ninety-seven per cent, encompassing more than ninety per cent of bilateral trade value. Participants reviewed challenges regarding weaponised tariffs, supply chain disruptions, trade imbalances with China, stalled negotiations with the United States, and the shift from multilateral institutions such as the World Trade Organization toward bilateral agreements. The session also evaluated India's bilateral investment treaty framework, clean energy transitions, small modular nuclear reactors, and the implications of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. Crucial attention centred on maritime security risks across the Strait of Hormuz and Bab-el-Mandeb, shipping insurance costs, fertilizer import expenses, agricultural safeguards, economic autonomy, and regulated migration and student mobility.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged corruption involving the Punjab Chief Minister's Office. The decision follows claims by the Enforcement Directorate regarding scams related to transfer postings, change of land use approvals, and arms licences involving private individuals and an Officer on Special Duty to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The Enforcement Directorate had sent three letters to the Punjab Director General of Police seeking registration of a first information report, but state police took no action. A public interest litigation filed by Advocate Nikhil Saraf prompted the High Court to direct the central agency to register a fresh case and submit an investigation report within two months, while directing the Punjab Police to assist with documents. The matter originated from earlier raids on builders in Mohali where cash was recovered, establishing alleged links to the administration.