The Breakfast Table

Cyclone Murasu, a huge spinning storm, crossed the coast of Andhra Pradesh in India near the city of Ongole at around 1 am on Tuesday 3 November. Winds reached 100 to 110 kilometres an hour. It uprooted trees, toppled electricity poles and flooded low-lying areas.

More than 30,000 hectares of crops were damaged across 15 districts. Paddy, cotton and maize suffered most. Many people had already moved to safety: The Tribune reported 10,805 people in cyclone shelters, and 14 NDRF rescue teams were sent to the state.

No deaths were reported when the Tribune wrote, but a later live blog said at least two people had died. It was the second cyclone to hit the region in a week.

India keeps lists, called electoral rolls, of the people allowed to vote. The Election Commission, which runs the country’s elections, is rechecking those lists in a process it calls a Special Intensive Revision, or SIR. Some people disagree with how it is being done, so they went to the Supreme Court.

In reply, the commission handed the court 248 pages. It says it followed the Constitution, using Article 324, and that all three of its commissioners agreed on its three SIR orders. It wants the court to throw out the complaints, which it calls misconceived.

The complaints are also aimed at Gyanesh Kumar, who leads the commission. The people who brought them want 14 decisions about the rechecking undone, and a special team to investigate. The commission answered that under Article 324(5) its leader can be removed only in the way a Supreme Court judge is.

Next, the judges decide. A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant was due to hear the case. WION reported that, after the commission filed its sworn statement on 26 October, the court gave one petitioner, Rakesh Kumar Singh, 10 days to respond.