Daily briefing: Report on simultaneous polls; Jaishankar’s UNGA address; and more

Upset over the pendency of recommendations for appointment and transfer of High Court judges and underlining that 70 recommendations made by the Collegium are still pending with the government, the Supreme Court said it will “monitor” the issue “closely” and take it up once in “10-12 days” at least “till it is done”.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year, the BJP-led government at the Centre is planning a ‘Grameen Samvaad Yatra’ – a mega outreach programme with the dual purpose of showcasing its achievements as well as enrolling new beneficiaries to ensure “saturation coverage” of Central schemes.

👩‍💻 Must Read 

If there is one man who stands at the centre of the AIADMK-BJP falling out, by all accounts, it is K Annamalai – the IPS officer-turned-politician in his late 30s who, just one year into joining the party, was the BJP’s choice as Tamil Nadu president. Sources point to the BJP national leadership’s apparent disinterest in reining in Annamalai, despite the AIADMK signals to Delhi– thus furthering the impression that he enjoys the trust of Narendra Modi and Amit Shah.

In the Opinion section today, J Sai Deepak writes on the Sanatan Dharma controversy: “Does the Udhayanidhi episode not expose the convenient malleability of the definition and application of ‘hate speech’ in this country?”

The Women’s Reservation Bill, providing 33 per cent quota to women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, was swiftly passed by both Houses of Parliament last week, but its fate hangs in balance because of its dependence on the delimitation exercise. By making the women’s reservation contingent on delimitation, the government seems to be aiming for several objectives. We explain

⌛ And Finally 

The final day of the Delhi State Athletics Championship (September 23-26), at the warm-up track of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in the national capital, turned into a cat-and-mouse game between athletes and doping control officers on Tuesday. Read full report here

🤫 Delhi Confidential: Amid the Bharat vs India controversy, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar opened his UNGA address by saying, “Namaste from Bharat”. But earlier in the day, he had shared a picture of him sitting for UNGA with a digital placard that read ‘India’. 

🎧 In today’s episode of the ‘3 things’ podcast, we talk about why a village refused to buy ration from a Dalit-run fair price shop in Gujarat, thefts of valuables from passengers in Delhi airport, and a village with 40 YouTubers.

Until tomorrow, 

Anamni Gupta and Rahel Philipose