Skip next section What you need to know
What you need to know
Here are the latest developments from India on Thursday, October 15:
- Supreme Court is hearing Rahul Gandhi-led petition against revision of voter lists
- Actor Imran Khan ordered to leave India over participation in protests, reports say
- Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar meets UAE counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan
- Three Indian nationals killed in Germany building fire, arson suspected
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Skip next section Rahul Gandhi’s key petition on mass voter deletions listed in Supreme Court todayPublished 10/15/2026Published October 15, 2026last updated 10/15/2026last updated October 15, 2026
Rahul Gandhi’s key petition on mass voter deletions listed in Supreme Court today
The Supreme Court is slated to hear a petition filed by India’s main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and several other opposition lawmakers over a sweeping exercise which has so far purged over 130 million names from the country’s electoral rolls.
A list of cases to be taken up on Thursday by a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant shows the petition named “Rahul Gandhi and others versus Election Commission of India and others.”
The plea was filed on Monday at the end of a protest march to the Supreme Court that saw Congress’ Gandhi rallying thousands, including members of the opposition INDIA bloc, student leaders, activists and civil society, through a heavily barricaded part of the capital.
The protest was the latest in a series of demonstrations calling for India’s Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to step down over alleged manipulation of voter rolls to benefit Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The poll body, whose neutrality has come under scrutiny, rejects the allegations and says the exercise, called Special Intensive Revision (SIR), removes deceased, relocated and duplicate voters and also prevents the inclusion of “foreign illegal immigrants.”
Modi’s party has also dismissed the accusations and deems the protests as attempts to “create anarchy.”
Meanwhile, neither Modi nor Kumar have publicly addressed the issue.
Gandhi’s petition seeks an interim suspension of the nationwide revision of voter rolls, along with an audit of voter deletions and safeguards against deletions without prior notice.
https://p.dw.com/p/5OGYJSkip next section India expected to overtake Japan as 4th largest economy in 2027 — IMF10/15/2026October 15, 2026
India expected to overtake Japan as 4th largest economy in 2027 — IMF
India is expected to overtake Japan to become the fourth-largest economy in the world by next year, according to projections released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Thursday.
The Washington-based organization said that while this year Japan would continue to hold its spot as the fourth-largest nation by nominal gross domestic product, India was set to take over with a GDP estimated at $4.52 trillion (€4.03 trillion) in 2027.
The projection showed Japan sliding to sixth place next year, ranking behind India and the United Kingdom.
The United States leads as the world’s largest economy, followed by China and Germany.
The IMF’s Asia and Pacific Department Director Krishna Srinivasan said India entered the ongoing energy price shock caused by the Middle East conflict from a strong position.
“Growth was strong, fiscal prudence was pretty much enshrined, they had lots of reserves and so on,” he said. “And so in that context, they have responded well to the shock.”
https://p.dw.com/p/5OHBaSkip next section Supreme Court seeks response from Election Commission to Rahul Gandhi’s plea10/15/2026October 15, 2026
Supreme Court seeks response from Election Commission to Rahul Gandhi’s plea
The Supreme Court has issued a notice to the Election Commission of India and the body’s three commissioners, including top official Gyanesh Kumar, seeking their response over a petition filed by Congress’ Rahul Gandhi.
The opposition leader and other lawmakers had filed the petition over alleged irregularities in a widespread revision of the country’s electoral rolls.
The court said it would group the petition together with several pending pleas related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists.
“We are issuing notice and tagging it with the matters already pending. Somebody will accept notice on behalf of the Election Commission of India. Otherwise, serve them,” legal news website Bar and Bench cited the top court as saying.
Gandhi and leaders of the INDIA bloc of opposition parties filed the plea on October 12, following a massive protest march to the Supreme Court.
The protest was among a flurry of demonstrations that the nation has witnessed in recent weeks, calling for Kumar’s resignation.
It came after a newspaper investigation found Kumar allegedly took unilateral decisions that resulted in a mass deletion of voters, allegedly violating the law.
The Indian Express reported that two of Kumar’s fellow election commissioners raised at least 14 formal objections over 10 months regarding voter registrations, deletions and restorations, as well as control of electoral roll data but those concerns were not taken into consideration.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court also issued a notice in another plea to Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and other protesters over their Monday march to its complex.
The march came after Chief Justice of India Surya Kant turned down a request by the opposition for a meeting to submit a memorandum on issues related to the SIR, saying that discussing issues already pending before the court would go against the principle of separation of powers.
https://p.dw.com/p/5OGyZSkip next section READ — India urges Russia, Ukraine to protect Black Sea shipping10/15/2026October 15, 2026
READ — India urges Russia, Ukraine to protect Black Sea shipping
India has urged both Russia and Ukraine to ensure safe passage for commercial shipping through the Black Sea as attacks on merchant vessels put Indian seafarers at risk and threaten to disrupt vital food and energy supplies.
New Delhi says discussions with both sides are under way.
India accounts for more than 12% of the global seafaring workforce, with 311,936 maritime professionals, according to a 2026 industry report. And attacks on commercial vessels in and around the Black Sea in recent months have highlighted the risks facing civilian crews.
Click here for a detailed report.
https://p.dw.com/p/5OGr5Skip next section Actor Imran Khan asked to leave India over anti-election chief protest10/15/2026October 15, 2026
Actor Imran Khan asked to leave India over anti-election chief protest
Bollywood actor Imran Khan has been issued a notice by the Mumbai Police, asking him to leave the country over his participation in a protest against India’s top poll official last week, reports said Thursday.
Khan, who is a US national, was briefly detained during the protest against alleged voter roll manipulation held at August Kranti Maidan in Maharashtra’s Mumbai city on Saturday.
Khan had posted a picture of himself on Instagram from inside a police van.
“Apparently I’m going for a drive,” he said in the post.
Videos of him being pulled inside the van by police officials subsequently went viral on social media.
The notice directs Khan to leave India by October 28 for allegedly violating provisions of the Immigration and Foreigners Act, reports said.
The vice president of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Maharashtra unit, Kirit Somaiya, had earlier called for Khan to be arrested and deported over alleged violations of Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) provisions and visa norms.
Speaking to the media before he was detained on Saturday, Khan said that he had come to the protest location as a citizen of Mumbai and was not there with any specific demands.
“I don’t have demands. I am here as a citizen, as a person who lives in this city. I am here to see why freedom of movement is being restricted. Why are people’s voices being suppressed? That is why I am here,” he said.
Khan is the nephew of prominent Bollywood actor Aamir Khan.
https://p.dw.com/p/5OGotSkip next section Three Indians killed in Germany building fire, arson suspected10/15/2026October 15, 2026
Three Indians killed in Germany building fire, arson suspected
Three Indian nationals were killed in a fire at an apartment building in western Germany’s Bochum.
The Indian Embassy in Berlin said in a statement that two women and one man were among those who died, adding that all three were studying in Germany.
According to German media reports, the victims were aged between 25 and 27. Five other people were injured.
German news agency DPA said that the fire department received an alert at 4:15 a.m. local time (0212 GMT/UTC). Residents were seen calling for help as they stood at windows on the first and second floors of the building, DPA reported.
The firefighting efforts lasted several hours.
A technical malfunction was ruled out as the cause of the fire and authorities said they were investigating a suspected arson.
A 41-year-old man, who is a resident of the building, has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is in pretrial detention, reports said citing a police statement.
The reports identified the man as a Romanian national.
Meanwhile, the Indian Embassy said it was in touch with German authorities and the families of the victims. It added that it was offering all necessary assistance.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the bereaved families in this hour of grief,” the statement from the embassy said.
Bochum’s mayor, Jörg Lukat, called the incident a “tragedy the likes of which Bochum has not seen in decades.”
https://p.dw.com/p/5OGlQSkip next section India’s top diplomat in UAE for talks
10/15/2026October 15, 2026
India’s top diplomat in UAE for talks
Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has met United Arab Emirates’ Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan while on a visit to Abu Dhabi.
Jaishankar called the meeting “warm and productive” in a post on X and said that the two sides discussed bilateral and global issues.
The Indian top diplomat’s three-day visit to the UAE began on Wednesday.
A statement released by the Foreign Ministry in New Delhi earlier this week said the bilateral talks would review the progress of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between India and the UAE.
Jaishankar is also taking part in the Raisina Middle East forum in Abu Dhabi, co-hosted by New Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation and the foreign ministries of India and the UAE.
He said a discussion with Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the event underpinned the importance of recognizing the increasing pace of change in the global order, highlighting that it reflects “long term trends and immediate shocks.”
“Countries respond as per their specific situation. New partnerships and fresh options are inevitably explored in that pursuit,” he said, adding that it involved going beyond “traditional comfort zones and developing sharper strategic awareness.”
Jaishankar also called for an urgent “reform of multilateralism,” which he said could be supported through a more robust “minilateralism.”
On Wednesday, Jaishankar also met Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Botchorishvili in Abu Dhabi and discussed ways to further deepen bilateral cooperation in areas such as business, connectivity and culture.
https://p.dw.com/p/5OGg7Skip next section Welcome to our coverage10/15/2026October 15, 2026
Welcome to our coverage
This is Dharvi Vaid Dhulia from DW’s studio in New Delhi, bringing you our Thursday digest of all the biggest headlines that have got India talking.
The country’s top court is set to hear a batch of petitions over this month’s clampdown on protests called by India’s ‘Cockroach’ movement against the election chief as ire over mass voter deletions intensifies.
The court is also expected to hear a plea filed by Congress’ Rahul Gandhi and several other opposition leaders over alleged irregularities in voter lists.
On the diplomatic front, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is in the middle of a trip to the United Arab Emirates, where he has held talks with Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Also making news, three Indians have died in an apartment fire in the western German city of Bochum. German media reports say authorities are probing suspected arson and have arrested a building resident on suspicion of murder.
Stay with us for all this and more.
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