UPSC/KPSC Current Affairs: 1st December 2025
Cyclone Ditwah weakens; 3 die in rain-related incidents
Context: Cyclone Ditwah began to weaken even as it continued its slow northward movement over the Bay of Bengal, parallel to the coast of northern Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
- The centre of the cyclonic system stayed around 80 km from the coast as it moved at a speed of just 5 kmph, weakening to a deep depression, according to the Regional Meteorological Centre. It was expected to come within 30 km of the coastline.
- The Air Force moved about 300 National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel from Maharashtra and Gujarat to Chennai. In a social media post, Mr. Stalin said: “An IAF C-17 has airlifted NDRF teams and equipment from Pune and Vadodara to Chennai, enabling rapid deployment of over 300 NDRF personnel and around 35 tonnes of essential gear.”
SIR form deadline extended to Dec. 11 amid BLO distress
Context: Draft list will be released on Dec. 16; final roll will be published on Feb. 14; EC says additional week is being given for BLOs to share details with BLAs.
- Amid widespread reports of booth-level officers (BLO) facing severe stress, the Election Commission on Sunday extended the schedule of the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in nine States and three Union Territories by a week.
- The enumeration phase will now continue till December 11 instead of December 4. The draft list will be released on December 16 instead of December 9 and the final roll will be published on February 14 instead of February 7, the EC said in a statement.
- The poll body said that 99.65% of enumeration forms have been distributed so far, and 84.30% of completed forms have been digitised.
- Uttar Pradesh has the lowest digitisation rate at 69.56%. West Bengal, where the ruling Trinamool Congress has raised an alarm regarding pressure on BLOs, has completed the digitisation of 95.24% of forms.
- The first phase of SIR was conducted in Bihar and led to the deletion of more than 68 lakh names from the voter lists ahead of the Assembly election.
Centre’s citizenship scrutiny power is ‘limited’, EC says
Context: The Election Commission has dismissed arguments raised in the special intensive revision (SIR) case by the Opposition parties that only the Union government had exclusive authority to scrutinise citizenship, saying the Centre’s power was “limited” to inquiring into the circumstances in which Indian citizens voluntarily acquired foreign citizenship.
- The commission referred to Section 9 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which deals with the termination of citizenship in cases of voluntary acquisition of foreign citizenship. Section 9 vests in the Centre the authority to determine “when or how” an Indian citizen acquired foreign citizenship.
- “The powers of the Central government are confined to reviewing the acquisition of foreign citizenship, and whether based on such acquisition, the Indian citizenship of a person should be terminated… It is only for this limited purpose that the exclusive jurisdiction has been vested in the Centre, to the exclusion of all other authorities. Every other aspect related to citizenship can be inquired into by other authorities,” the Election Commission argued in a 184-page affidavit.
- The ruling parties and their leaders in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal have described the SIR as citizenship screening. Parties, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, have alleged that the EC was misusing the revision of electoral rolls to conduct a “de novo National Register of Citizens”.
- The poll body asserted its authority to “assess citizenship” for the purpose of registration in electoral rolls.
- Indian citizenship is one of the constitutional preconditions under Article 326 for entry into the voter list. “Even if we assume, without conceding, it is only the Centre which can appraise citizenship, it is imperative to note that proof of citizenship sought from existing electors under the SIR exercise is for a limited purpose, that is, registration in the electoral rolls which enable the right to vote,” the commission submitted. It emphasised that the SIR exercise was not meant to determine the status of citizenship.
- The commission reiterated that its power to scrutinise citizenship flowed directly from Article 324, which empowered it to supervise and control the conduct of elections, and Article 326. No parliamentary law could oust the EC’s jurisdiction, it said, noting that even the authority of Parliament to make laws on elections under Article 327 must align with the commission’s plenary powers.
- The Representation of the People Act (ROPA), 1950, through Sections 16 and 19, requires that voters must be Indian citizens. Section 16 disqualifies non-citizens from being included in the electoral roll, and electors must be “ordinarily resident” in a constituency to be registered. An SIR, conducted under Section 21(3) of ROPA, had to be “intense” and was triggered by “felt necessities”, it said. “The guidelines issued with respect to the SIR are constitutional and in the interest of maintaining the purity of the electoral rolls, which is a pre-requisite for free and fair elections that forms a Basic Feature of the Constitution,” it argued.
- It denied the Opposition’s claim that the SIR was unconstitutional because it shifted the burden of verification onto electors, who must fill up enumeration forms to avoid exclusion from the electoral rolls. The commission said the SIR was a “voter-friendly” and “cooperative exercise”. Electors were required only to sign their pre-filled forms delivered at their homes by booth-level officers.