The Election Commission extended the timelines for the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in six of the 12 states and Union Territories where the exercise is underway. The decision was taken after requests from the state chief electoral officers, said the poll panel hours before the deadline.

The revised enumeration period in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat will end on December 14, and the draft electoral rolls will be published on December 19. In Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the deadline to submit enumeration forms will be December 18, and the date of publication of draft rolls is December 23. The enumeration phase in Uttar Pradesh was given a nearly two-week extension till December 26, and the draft rolls will be published on December 31.

It was not immediately clear if the date of publication of the final rolls, which the poll panel had earlier extended to February 14, has also been pushed. Read on.

I struggled to fill SIR forms. BLOs have it much worse

A Delhi court denied anticipatory bail to Saurabh Luthra and Gaurav Luthra, who allegedly fled India after a fire at their nightclub in Goa killed 25 persons. They were detained by the Thailand Police in Phuket at the request of the Indian government and the process of bringing them to India is underway.

Their lawyer told the court that they had not fled the country, but had gone to Thailand for business. However, the Goa government said that the Luthra brothers booked the flight at 1.17 am on December 7, shortly after the fire.

It also alleged that the brothers had no business interests in Thailand and that their family did not cooperate with the police when the officers went to their home. Read on.

A Delhi court granted bail to activist Umar Khalid from December 16 to December 29 to attend his sister’s wedding. Accused of being part of a “larger conspiracy” behind the 2020 Delhi riots, he was directed not to contact any witnesses or persons related to the case.

The court also directed the activist to furnish a personal bond of Rs 20,000 and two sureties of a similar amount. “Further, he shall remain at his home or at the places where the ceremonies of marriage as mentioned by him will take place,” the court said. Read on.

The price that Umar Khalid is paying for dissenting in Modi’s India

The Supreme Court refused to suspend a 20-year jail sentence given to former Indian Police Service officer Sanjiv Bhatt in a 1996 drug planting case. The bench said that the quantity of drugs involved in the case, 5 kg, was high.

Bhatt is already serving a life sentence in a separate 1990 custodial death case. He told the court that he had served seven years and three months of the sentence in the drug planting case.

The court told Bhatt that he could seek an early hearing of the appeal. Read on.

As IndiGo continued to restore its network after last week’s operational breakdown, it said that its schedule has been stable for three consecutive days. The airline also stated that it planned to operate more than 1,950 flights on Thursday, carrying around three lakh passengers.

It also said that it would provide travel vouchers worth Rs 10,000 as compensation to “severely impacted customers” whose flights were cancelled between December 3 and December 5 and who were left stranded at some airports. It added that this compensation was over and above the amount mandated by the government. Read on.

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