Top news of the day: Two-phase polling in West Bengal, single phase in T.N., Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, counting on May 4; Trump says U.S. not ready to agree deal to end Iran war, and more

Top news of the day: Two-phase polling in West Bengal, single phase in T.N., Kerala, Assam and Puducherry, counting on May 4; Trump says U.S. not ready to agree deal to end Iran war, and more top news of the day march 15, 2026

The Election Commission of India, on Sunday (March 15, 2026), announced the schedule for the Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Puducherry. While West Bengal will vote in two phase, all the other elections will happen in a single phase.

Assam, Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry will go to polls on April 9, 2026. In Tamil Nadu, the election will be conducted on April 23. The first phase of elections will happen on April 23, 2026 in West Bengal and the second phase on April 29, 2026. The counting for all these elections will be held on May 4, 2026.

Donald Trump warned that he is not ready to seek a deal to end the war with Iran, as U.S. ally Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Sunday (March 15, 2026) and Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to hunt down and kill the Israeli leader. The U.S. President, in an interview with NBC News, said he thought Tehran was keen to come to the table but that Washington would fight on for better terms and might bomb targets on Iran’s oil hub Kharg Island once, again, “just for fun”.

An hour before the Election Commission of India announced the poll schedule for West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday (March 15, 2026) said that her government will clear DA arrears of its employees and pensioners from March this year. The arrears relate to the Revision of Pay and Allowances (ROPA) 2009, a long-standing demand of government employees and pensioners, covering salaries and allowances of teachers, municipal and panchayat staffers, and other grant-in-aid institutions.

The Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, D.K. Upadhyaya, has declined a request by former Chief Minister and AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal and others to transfer CBI’s plea against their discharge in the excise policy case from Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma to another judge.

According to sources privy to the development, Justice Upadhyaya opined that Justice Sharma was hearing CBI’s petition against the trial court’s decision in accordance with the roster, and there was no reason to pass an order of transfer on the administrative side.