Morning Digest: Voting in high-stakes bypoll in three States, one U.T. today; ECI fact-checks claims on Form 6 following SC observation, and more

Voting in high-stakes bypoll in three States, one U.T. todayVoting will take place today (October 6, 2026) for byelections to five Assembly constituencies in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry, as well as to one Lok Sabha constituency in Assam. The counting of votes is scheduled for Friday (October 9, 2026). Follow live updates hereJeffrey Archer, U.K. author and politician, dies aged 86Jeffrey Archer, the best-selling ​British novelist and former politician ‌who was jailed for lying ​in a high-profile ⁠libel case, has died aged 86, his publisher HarperCollins said on ‌Monday (October 5, 2026). Mr. Archer sold over 300 million copies worldwide ‌and was known for pacy ‌thrillers ⁠like his 1976 debut Not ⁠a Penny More, Not a Penny Less and Kane & Abel, with his ​final novel ‌Adam and Eve due to be published this month.India-U.S. trade deal talks have plateaued; further demands, concessions will be very difficult: FinMinNegotiations for the India-U.S. trade deal have reached a “plateau”, where it will now be “very difficult” to add to the list of demands and concessions that have been agreed to, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Ms. Sitharaman said that India’s imports of Russian oil did not feature as a condition during the negotiations for its free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union, which is set to be signed in December this year.ECI fact-checks claims on Form 6 following SC observationAmid the political slugfest over Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant’s remarks on Form 6 used for registration of voters, the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Press Information Bureau came out with a slew of fact-checks. Following the reports of dissent within the commission over changes made in Form 6, the EC had in a press release on September 26, claimed that the declaration form attached with Form 6 was upheld by the apex court.Sheikh Hasina’s activities in India ‘principal challenge’ in planning Bangladesh PM’s visit: Humaiyun KobirThe “principal challenge” in planning a visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to India are the activities of deposed premier Sheikh Hasina and her team who are based in India, said State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh Humaiyun Kobir. Responding to questions from The Hindu on the sidelines of the ongoing Bay of Bengal Conversation organised by Dhaka’s Centre for Governance Studies (CGS), Mr. Kobir emphasised the importance of “strategic autonomy” for Bangladesh and said India has to appreciate the “challenges of a newly elected government” in Bangladesh. He further argued that activities of the exiled leaders of the Awami League will not help India.SC asks Centre to furnish details on relocation of Central Secretariat Library under Central Vista projectThe Supreme Court sought a detailed affidavit from the Union government on the proposed relocation of the 135-year-old Central Secretariat Library in Delhi, which houses over 8.5 lakh books, as part of the Central Vista redevelopment project. The court sought details of the space earmarked for the library, along with its layout plans. The court’s suo motu intervention comes amid reports that the library, currently housed in the Shastri Bhawan complex, was directed on September 17 to vacate the premises by September 30 as part of the redevelopment project.CEC Gyanesh Kumar has lost public trust and must be removed, say former bureaucrats, activistsA group of senior retired bureaucrats, civil society activists, and academics accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of six instances of “proved misbehaviour” and sought his removal, but could not submit their “notice of impeachment” to him in person, as heavy barricading and police deployment prevented the delegation from reaching the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) office. They subsequently emailed their “chargesheet” to the CEC.SIR: No inquiry yet into bulk Form-7 submissions targeting minority votersAmid a row where multiple cases have emerged where Form-7, used to file objections and seek deletion of names from the electoral rolls, have been filled in bulk, mostly targeting Muslim and minority communities, Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) V. Anbu Kumar said that “in none of the cases has an inquiry been initiated by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO)”. Directions have been given to all EROs to take action as per law against those who knowingly make false statements or declarations in writing while filling forms such as Form-7, preceded by an inquiry under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, following an over-five-hour-long protest by Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on October 1.Set up 24-hour monitoring cells to prevent sexual offences, Supreme Court tells Delhi PoliceUnderlining the need to take preventive measures against sexual offences, the Supreme Court asked the Delhi Police to set up 24-hour monitoring cells for continuous surveillance of vulnerable areas. The court also asked the police to strengthen patrolling, particularly around educational institutions and public spaces. A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K. Vinod Chandran observed that the mere installation of CCTV cameras in public spaces would serve little purpose without continuous monitoring to detect suspicious activity and enable a swift police response.India, Switzerland identify areas of cooperation in defence, nuclear energy: PMIndia and Switzerland have identified new opportunities for cooperation in areas of defence and nuclear energy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, following a bilateral meeting with Swiss President Guy Parmelin. Agreements signed by the two sides included one to extend visa durations and student permits. Mr. Parmelin is in India for a three-day visit to commemorate the first anniversary of the Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) between India and the four-country European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which came into force on October 1, 2025. BJP says Supreme Court notice to EC, Centre shows independence of institutionsThe Supreme Court’s decision to issue notices to the government and the Election Commission (EC) while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition demonstrated a functioning democratic process, negating the Opposition’s charge of an “atmosphere of fear” in the country, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said. The Supreme Court issued notices seeking responses within a week on a plea challenging the decisions allegedly taken by the EC without the approval of two Election Commissioners.This is going to be an age of flux, confident we will rise to challenges: JaishankarThis is going to be an age of flux for the world, with conflicts and tariff volatility making it turbulent, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said, underlining that responding to the challenges emerging out of the “choppy waters” is the task at hand. “I'm very confident that we will rise to the challenges,” Mr. Jaishankar said during an interactive session at the 5th Kautilya Economic Conclave in New Delhi.Most of rural agricultural workers landed in non-productive, informal urban jobs in 25 years: studyA study on productivity gap in farm and non-farm sectors, published in the Journal of Development Economics and authored jointly by economists Rajeer Jat and Bharat Ramaswami, has found that that the labourers from agriculture sector, who shifted to cities, were pushed towards non-productive sectors such as transport and restaurants making no substantial changes either in the economy or in their lives. It said that between 63% and 75% of non-farm workers are in informal employment-dominated industries that are not more productive than agriculture.Congress claims tribal students headed for Mumbai protest detained; condemns actionThe Maharashtra Congress alleged that police early stopped several tribal students who had come to Mumbai to stage a protest at Azad Maidan demanding the resignation of the tribal development minister and detained them. The students’ voices could not be silenced through threats, the Opposition party said, asserting that it would stand with tribal students in the “fight for their legitimate rights”.Mamata serves legal notice on hospital, Health Department over disclosure of her medical recordsFormer West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s lawyers served a legal notice on the SSKM Hospital, the Bangur Institute of Neurosciences, and the State Health Department over the alleged disclosure of her medical records from 2021 without her consent. The development comes two days after Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, during a press conference, made her medical report public. Mr. Adhikari claimed that Ms. Banerjee had faked her injury. Sanjay Dutt clarifies after his ‘no peace in India’ remark turns into a rowHindi film actor Sanjay Dutt has issued a clarification after his remarks that ‘he doesn’t feel peace in India anymore’, made at actor Shekhar Suman’s talk show, sparked a controversy. The clarification by the actor comes two days after his episode was aired on Shekhar Tonite Youtube channel, which drew widespread backlash from social media users. Taking to X, the actor wrote, “I would like to clarify that it was never my intention to hurt, offend, or disrespect the sentiments of any individual, community, or institution”. He stated that his remarks were made as part of a scripted conversation intended to be light-hearted and humorous.Tejashwi Yadav alleges electoral fraud in Bihar, says CEC acting at BJP’s behestINDIA bloc leader and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) national working president Tejashwi Yadav shared details of the action plan against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged illegalities in the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise. On October 7, Bihar leaders of the INDIA bloc will launch an Aakrosh March against the CEC, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the block level. On October 8, they will hold a sit-in protest in all districts, followed by a demonstration at the Lok Bhavan in Patna — led by the Leader of the Opposition Mr. Yadav.Trump cites Indian election that didn’t happen to call U.S. electoral process ‘corrupt’In an apparent faux pas, U.S. President Donald Trump mentioned India in a social media post to claim that the electoral process in the U.S. was “corrupt”, when there were no elections in India, and the post clearly appeared to be about the presidential election in Brazil. The message was later corrected. In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed that “125 million people voted in India’s Presidential elections and the results came out shortly after the vote closed”.U.S. accuses California woman of spying for China, surveilling Taiwan leader’s sonU.S. ⁠authorities arrested a California woman and accused her of spying on a son of Taiwan's President at the behest ‌of Chinese officials, the FBI said. The FBI arrested Wanying Zhang, also known as Heather, at Los ‌Angeles International Airport before her ‌planned departure ⁠to China, the agency said in a ⁠statement. Authorities charged Zhang, 34, of Irvine, California, with acting as an unregistered foreign agent.OpenAI's Sam Altman says AI benefits warrant accepting some risksOpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said the benefits of artificial intelligence justify accepting some risks and argued the technology ​should remain broadly accessible to the public. “We believe that the world ‌should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of ​this technology and people having the agency,” Altman ⁠said in an interview with Politico’s technology-focused newsletter Decoded.