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Former chief minister J Jayalithaa often campaigned from her campaign vehicle, with her close aide V K Sasikala seated in the back, watching as constituents and media gathered around her van. Sasikala has now moved to the front.Evoking memories of Jayalalithaa’s roadshows, Sasikala delivers short speeches from her van at key constituencies in south Tamil...

KOLKATA: Bengal’s favourite ‘maachh-bhaat’ filled the poll plate on Thursday as PM Narendra Modi accused Trinamool Congress of failing to feed the piscine-loving state enough fish, seeking to turn on its head a debate triggered by CM Mamata Banerjee’s party portraying BJP as being “anti-non-vegetarian”. In Haldia, where he addressed the first of his three...

KOLKATA: Shamsherganj and Lalgola constituencies of Bengal’s Muslim-dominant Murshidabad district had the highest number of voters removed from the electoral rolls after post-SIR judicial adjudication, while the Purulia-Jhargram tribal belt reported the least deletions, based on collated Election Commission data released on Thursday. The figures for Murshidabad – 74,775 deletions out of 1,08,400 names that...

KOLKATA/RANAGHAT: A 97-year-old Partition refugee who never missed a vote is struck off the rolls. A 72-year-old retired teacher who presided over a dozen polls is deleted despite papers. A 68-year-old collapsed and died in a tribunal queue. Fallout from SIR has rippled across Bengal. Subarna Bala Poddar, born in undivided Bengal and displaced in...

Mukul Choudhary (BCCI Photo) NEW DELHI: Lucknow Super Giants’ stunning last-ball win over Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2026 had a new hero, as young Mukul Choudhary announced himself on the big stage with a fearless match-winning knock. Chasing 182, LSG looked down and out at one stage, but Choudhary’s explosive unbeaten 54 off 27...

Record voter turnouts were seen in assembly polls in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry on Thursday, with Election Commission officials describing it as a “validation” of special intensive revision and special revision of electoral rolls and a sign of people’s “unflinching trust in the electoral process”. Polling surged past previous peaks – reaching all-time highs of...

Jaishankar heads to UAE, Puri to QatarNEW DELHI: With a fragile ceasefire in place in West Asia, India is looking to renew engagement with the Gulf through visits by Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar to the UAE and petroleum and natural gas minister Hardeep Singh Puri to Qatar. India welcomed the ceasefire between Iran...

Sunetra Pawar PUNE/MUMBAI: Just an hour was left for withdrawal of nominations on Thursday when the Congress finally responded to requests from the Pawar family and the Mahayuti partners and dropped its candidate against NCP chief and deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar in the Baramati bye-election. Twenty-two independent candidates still remain in the contest, but...

Donald Trump US President Donald Trump early Friday renewed a sharp warning to Iran amid tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, accusing Tehran of disrupting vital oil flows during a conflict that has stretched on for over a month.Posting on Truth Social, the MAGA leader issued a direct message to the Islamic Republic of Iran,...

NEW DELHI: Indian exporters on Thursday flagged their concern over the charges being levied by shipping lines as well as gaps in the ECGC scheme announced by commerce department, while seeking measures to address concerns related to packaging material, which is in short supply. At a meeting on the West Asia crisis with commerce secretary...