Mass protest erupts at Bengaluru's Freedom Park over SIR; GST Council scraps arrest powers of GST officers, ups prosecution threshold to Rs 5 cr

Over 2,000 protesters gathered at Bengaluru's Freedom Park on Thursday morning for a State-level mass demonstration and 'People’s tribunal' demanding the immediate scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and a return to paper ballots. Separately, the GST Council approved changes on Thursday, including removing the arrest powers of GST officers and raising the prosecution threshold from Rs 1 crore to Rs 5 crore.