West Bengal is set for a crucial electoral verdict on Monday, May 4, after more than a month of intense campaigning. The results will determine whether Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) secures a fourth straight term or whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) makes history by forming its first government in Bengal.

Counting of votes for Tamil Nadu’s 234 Assembly seats began at 8 am on Monday. The closely watched three-cornered contest that could reshape the state’s political landscape.

The battle is between the ruling MK Stalin-led Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) alliance, the opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) combine backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate, Kapil Sibal, on Saturday clarified that the Supreme Court has not merely dismissed Trinamool Congress' petition over the deployment of central government employees for counting of votes, but rather agreed to their contention of implementing the Election Commission's circular.

Millions of mobile users across India were surprised, some even taken aback, after receiving sudden, high-decibel alerts on their phones on Saturday, as the government carried out a nationwide test of its new emergency warning technology.

Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia formally launched the Cell Broadcast Alert System, an indigenous platform designed to strengthen India’s disaster management and emergency communication framework.

US President Donald Trump expressed frustration with Iranian negotiations but stopped short of threatening to end the brittle ceasefire between the countries and order fresh airstrikes.

“They want to make a deal but I’m not satisfied with it,” Trump told reporters at the White House Friday.

The Supreme Court on Saturday said no further order was necessary on the TMC's plea challenging the Calcutta High Court's dismissal of its petition against an Election Commission circular on the deployment of central government personnel for vote counting in West Bengal.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew and TMC's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will hold a virtual meeting with all counting agents of the party on Saturday afternoon, two days ahead of the counting of votes polled in the assembly elections, a senior party leader said.

The meeting, scheduled for 4 pm, will be attended by the counting agents from the 291 Assembly constituencies, where the ruling party fielded its candidates.

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Friday expressed displeasure over what it termed a growing tendency of banks to arbitrarily freeze accounts, observing that a bank acts as a trustee and not an investigative agency.

A division bench of Justice Shekhar B Saraf and Justice Avadhesh Kumar Chaudhary imposed a cost of ₹50,000 on Indian Overseas Bank for freezing a customer's account without valid justification.

Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday flagged off the 20-coach Vande Bharat Express train between Jammu and Srinagar, the first direct train between the twin capitals of Jammu and Kashmir.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office, Jitendra Singh, were among the dignitaries present at the flagging off ceremony.

The Supreme Court on Thursday sought response from the Centre and others on a PIL seeking directions to establish a revenue judicial service, and prescribe minimum legal qualification and training module for public servants adjudicating land disputes.

A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notice to the Union of India.

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