Morning Digest: Place in electoral roll is ‘qualified right’, ECI says in SC; Private technical staff to assist officials in Census, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on January 28, 2026

Even registered voters are required to “continuously fulfill” the essential condition of Indian citizenship, as laid out in Article 326 of the Constitution, to retain their place in the electoral roll, the Election Commission of India (ECI) told the Supreme Court on Tuesday (January 27, 2026), during its hearing on the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise.

India and the European Union (EU) on Tuesday (January 27, 2026) announced the conclusion of negotiations over a free trade agreement (FTA) that would see the EU drop tariffs on 99.5% of items India exports to the region, with most tariffs going down to 0% immediately once the agreement comes into effect.

The seat-sharing deadlock between the DMK and the Congress for the upcoming Assembly election is expected to be resolved soon, as a delegation from the ruling party is set to meet Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Wednesday (January 28, 2026). According to sources in both parties, DMK Parliamentary Party leader Kanimozhi Karunanidhi is set to meet Mr. Gandhi to convey her party’s high command’s offer of seats for the Assembly election.

In a first, private technical staff will be engaged to assist government officials during the Census, enabling the “release of Census data in the shortest possible time”, sources said. The Population Census 2027, the first phase of which will begin on April 1 and conclude on September 30, will be the first-ever digital census in the country, where the enumerators, mostly government schoolteachers, will capture details through mobile applications on their personal phones.

TikTok agreed to settle a landmark social media addiction lawsuit just before the trial kicked off, the plaintiff’s attorneys confirmed. The social video platform was one of three companies — along with Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube — facing claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. A fourth company named in the lawsuit, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc, settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum.

A Division Bench of the Madras High Court on Tuesday (January 27, 2026) allowed a writ appeal filed by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and set aside a single judge’s January 9, 2026, order, which had directed the board to issue U/A 16+ certification for actor Vijay’s much-awaited final movie Jana Nayagan.