Names of 2.8 crore voters were removed from the draft voter lists in Uttar Pradesh as part of the special intensive revision of the electoral rolls. Of the total, 2.1 crore names were of those who had shifted from their registered residences, 46.2 lakh were voters who had died and 25.4 lakh were duplicate entries, said the State Election Commission.

The names of 12.5 crore out of the total 15.4 crore have been retained. This is the largest number of deletions that have been reported among the 12 states and Union Territories where the voter rolls are being revised. Citizens whose names have been dropped from the list will be able to file claims and objections till February 6. Read on.

Reliance Industries said that it has not received any deliveries of Russian oil at its Jamnagar refinery in the past three weeks. The Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate added that it was not expecting consignments in January.

The statement came in response to a report by Bloomberg on Friday, which cited data from analytics firm Kpler to say that three ships carrying Russian oil were heading to the refinery in Gujarat. The report is “blatantly untrue”, Reliance said.

On November 20, Reliance Industries said that it had stopped importing Russian oil into its Jamnagar refinery and that it will abide by western sanctions against Russia amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine. Read on.

The Madras High Court upheld an order passed by Justice GR Swaminathan allowing the lighting of a lamp at a stone pillar on Thiruparankundram hill near Tamil Nadu’s Madurai. The hillock has the Arulmigu Subramania Swamy temple and the Sikkandar Badhusha dargah.

Swaminathan had ruled on December 1 that the stone pillar was a deepathoon, or a structure designed to hold lamps, and that the temple should restore the tradition of lighting the lamp at the site. He had also held that the practice would not infringe upon the religious rights of the Muslim shrine nearby.

The Tamil Nadu government, the temple authorities and the dargah management, among others, had challenged the order, raising concerns about law and order, ownership of the site and the nature of the ritual that had been allowed. Read on.

‘RSS agenda, favours Brahmins’: The controversial career of a Madras HC judge under impeachment fire

The Supreme Court asked Haryana if it can show magnanimity and deny the sanction to prosecute Ashoka University Associate Professor Ali Khan Mahmudabad in the case pertaining to his comments about the press briefings on Operation Sindoor. If the state government is willing to show leniency in the matter, Mahmudabad must also “act in a very responsible manner” in the future, said the bench.

Mahmudabad had been booked in May for a social media post highlighting the apparent irony of Hindutva commentators praising Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, who had represented the Indian Army at the press briefings. Read on.

Why Ashoka University professor’s arrest has no legal basis

Former Union minister Suresh Kalmadi died at a hospital in Pune following a prolonged illness. Kalmadi, who had served as Union Minister of State for Railways and as the president of the Indian Olympic Association, represented Pune for three terms in the Lok Sabha.

He had been suspended from the Congress in 2011 after he was accused of corruption while handing out contracts for the Commonwealth Games held in Delhi in 2010. He was then the chairman of the CWG Organising Committee. He had been arrested in April 2011 and was granted bail about nine months later. Read on.

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