Heavy police presence at the protest site in New Delhi.Security has been heavily augmented around Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and surrounding areas as opposition MPs from the INDIA bloc prepare to stage a major ground demonstration against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar today. Simultaneously, normal life across Odisha has been disrupted as the INDIA bloc has called for a state-wide bandh demanding the immediate resignation of the CEC alongside state School and Mass Education Minister Nityanand Gond.If you are just joining us, this is The Indian Express Realtime breaking news blog – where we bring you the latest news updates of the day in real time. Scan the top headlines of the day here, or keep scrolling to see the latest updates stream in.Veteran actor Nana Patekar dies of cardiac arrest at 75 in GoaRenowned actor Nana Patekar has passed away at the age of 75 following a severe cardiac arrest at his home in Goa. Medical teams administered continuous CPR for 45 minutes, but he could not be revived. The National Award-winning icon leaves behind an extraordinary cinematic legacy across Hindi and Marathi cinema.Story continues below this adFive major states oppose proposal to remove taxmen’s arrest powers under GSTIn a key economic development ahead of the upcoming GST Council deliberations, five prominent states across political divides have voiced strong opposition to stripping tax officers of arrest powers, maintaining that strict penal provisions are necessary to deter fraud and fake invoice networks.OpenAI officially rolls out GPT-6 with interactive visuals and faster processingOpenAI has launched its next-generation artificial intelligence model, GPT-6, featuring multimodal reasoning capabilities, real-time interactive visuals, and accelerated response times designed for complex enterprise and research applications.Zero sugar, zero gluten: How strict dietary discipline fueled Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s comebackPacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s explosive return to peak fitness has been driven by a disciplined nutritional transition, adopting a zero-sugar, zero-gluten, and zero-lactose diet to optimize recovery, agility, and match performance.Live UpdatesOct 8, 2026 09:17 AM ISTActor Prakash Raj announces ‘people’s tribunal’ on SIR in BengaluruActor-activist Prakash Raj said a “people’s tribunal” on the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls will be held in Bengaluru on Thursday, with alleged SIR victims from across Karnataka expected to attend. Raj, a critic of the electoral roll revision exercise, announced the event on social media and urged citizens to participate. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke and members of youth and civil society organisations are also expected to attend. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee is also scheduled to join the event. Rathee confirmed his participation in a video posted on X.Oct 8, 2026 09:13 AM ISTUDF protest over Nattika toll collection turns violent, clashes with policeA Congress-led UDF protest against toll collection at the Nattika toll plaza on NH 66 turned violent on Thursday after activists clashed with police, officials said. The NHAI had decided to start toll collection from October 8. UDF leaders alleged the move was premature as work on the service road and pedestrian overbridges was incomplete. Congress and IUML activists marched to the toll plaza around 7.30 am and tried to block operations. Police intervened and arrested some protesters, triggering further clashes. Some police personnel were injured, officials said. More UDF leaders later gathered at the site, alleging that protesters had been manhandled. A large police contingent was deployed to prevent further violence, while the LDF also announced a protest march against the toll collection.Oct 8, 2026 09:10 AM ISTSeemapuri building collapse: Death toll rises to 4 as another body foundOne more body was recovered from the debris during rescue operations in Delhi’s Seemapuri, taking the death toll in building collapse to four. Three people, including two children were declared dead and eight others injured in the building collapse.© IE Online Media Services Pvt LtdTags:CEC