New Delhi, Oct 22: The Election Commission of India (ECI) is set to hold a crucial two-day meeting with Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all states and union territories starting Wednesday to review preparations for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Following the meeting, the Commission is expected to make a decision on the nationwide rollout of the exercise.

The meeting, which will take place at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) in Dwarka, New Delhi, will commence in the afternoon and conclude after the morning session on Thursday.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vineet Joshi, along with Deputy Election Commissioners and other senior officials, will be attending.

According to ECI officials, the session will review compliance with directions issued during the previous meeting held on September 10, which outlined the preparatory steps to be completed before launching the SIR process.

During that meeting, the ECI had instructed state officials to map as many electors as possible to the previous electoral rolls to minimise the need for document resubmission by voters.

Sources said that in addition to the SIR preparations, several administrative matters are likely to be discussed.

The meeting will assess the completion status of the tasks assigned to the Chief Electoral Officers last month and identify areas that require further work, according to the sources.

The ECI is expected to finalise specific targets during the two-day deliberations. The central focus, sources added, will be on initiating the SIR process nationwide by the end of this year.

Discussions are also expected on whether to conduct the Special Intensive Revision simultaneously across the country or in two phases, taking into account regional variations such as weather conditions, agricultural cycles, examination schedules, and administrative convenience.

This will be the second such meeting of the Chief Electoral Officers in just over a month.

Mumbai: A Bangladeshi national, who had illegally entered India nearly 20 years ago and had been living under a false Indian identity, was arrested at Mumbai airport by alert immigration officials. The man, identified as Iklaj Molla, had been working in Kuwait for the past 11 years using a fake Indian passport.

According to officials, Molla had been living in India illegally since 2005 after crossing the Benapole border into West Bengal. Over the next nine years, he fraudulently obtained fake identity documents under an assumed Indian name. Based on these forged documents, he managed to secure an Indian passport from the Kolkata Regional Passport Office in 2014 and moved to Kuwait for employment.

Using the money he earned abroad, Molla purchased properties in Kolkata and was planning to bring his family from Bangladesh to settle in India. On September 14, while returning to India to execute this plan, his activities came under suspicion.

Immigration officer Ganesh Gawli noticed frequent entries to Bangladesh recorded in his passport and questioned him about the repeated visits. Unable to answer convincingly or speak fluent Indian languages, Molla’s true identity was soon uncovered. Following verification, he was confirmed to be a Bangladeshi national.

Subsequently, Sahar Police arrested him for illegal entry, possession of forged documents, and impersonation. Investigations are underway to identify others who may have helped him obtain Indian documents and passport fraudulently.

Mumbai, Oct 22: The rush for gold may slow down after Diwali, as the yellow metal is expected to open on a weak note in the domestic market on Wednesday.

This comes after international gold prices fell sharply by 5.5 per cent — the steepest decline since August 2020.

Analysts expect Indian gold prices to correct to around Rs 1.22–Rs 1.23 lakh per 10 grams when markets open on Wednesday.

The fall in global prices has triggered profit-booking among investors who had benefited from gold’s recent rally.

Silver too lost over 2 per cent, trading near $47.6 per ounce after tumbling 7.1 per cent in the previous session.

Gold and silver both extended their slide from record highs, while Asian stock markets showed mixed trends following a muted session on Wall Street.

Experts said the sharp drop in precious metals reflects a wave of profit-taking after their rapid rise this year.

“Many investors have grown cautious, believing that gold’s rally may have entered a bubble zone,” analysts noted.

This year’s rally had been driven by worries about the fiscal health of major economies, especially the US, and expectations that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates further by the end of the year.

Gold prices had surged nearly 60 per cent this year, fuelled by central banks diversifying away from the dollar and retail investors buying into exchange-traded funds.

Market sentiment also turned cautious after signs of possible progress in trade talks between the US and China.

US President Donald Trump said he expects a “good deal” in his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, though he admitted the talks might still face hurdles.

Analysts believe that while gold remains a preferred safe-haven asset in the long term, short-term volatility is likely to continue as investors balance profit-taking with global economic signals.