elections

AAP takes a strong lead in Punjab civic polls with 178 ward wins, while Congress secures 58 as counting continues across 103 municipal bodies.

BJP’s Debangshu Panda won the Falta Assembly seat by over 1 lakh votes, taking the party’s tally in Bengal to 208 seats.

By the end of the seventh round, Panda had secured 44,792 votes, leading by a substantial margin of 26,339 votes. The CPI(M) candidate Shambhunath Kurmi held the second position with 18,453 votes. Abdur Razzak Molla of the Indian National Congress stood third with 4,207 votes, while Jahangir Khan of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) remained in fourth place with 2,123 votes.

"The counting is progressing peacefully. Adequate security arrangements have been made at the counting centre," a poll panel official said.

Taking cognisance of these allegations, the Commission annulled the previous polling and ordered a complete repoll—an extraordinary step aimed at ensuring fairness and transparency.

The 16 biannual seats include some constituencies, such as Solapur, Ahmednagar, Thane, Jalgaon, Pune, Nashik, Amravati, and Aurangabad-cum-Jalna.

As many as 1,147 candidates are in the fray for 449 posts.

NDA leaders met Assam Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya at Lok Bhavan and staked claim to form government led by Chief Minister-elect Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Polling underway for civic body elections in Haryana's Ambala, Panchkula and Sonipat; counting of votes will take place on May 13.

Suvendu Adhikari met Governor RN Ravi and staked claim to form government after BJP secured majority support in West Bengal Assembly.

K C Venugopal leads Kerala CM race with backing of 47 MLAs as Congress high command weighs final decision amid competing claims.

The West Bengal Assembly was dissolved on Thursday by the Governor under Article 174, ending Mamata Banerjee’s tenure as Chief Minister amid a post-poll constitutional standoff.