Polling began for high-stakes electoral battles in two states, Assam and Keralam, as well as the Union Territory of Puducherry, on Thursday at 7 am with the Election Commission making arrangements for free, fair and smooth polling.

Voters queued outside polling stations to cast their votes in a single-phase Assembly election.

Ratna Debnath, the BJP candidate and mother of the RG Kar Medical College rape and murder victim, has vowed to defeat Mamata Banerjee in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly Elections, taking a vow that she won't comb her hair till she gets justice for her daughter.

Declaring the Chief Minister as her primary adversary, Debnath stated that the Chief Minister failed to save her daughter from the horrific crime at the RG Kar Medical College and hospital.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority on Thursday said it received an India-flagged vessel carrying 15,400 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) that successfully crossed the Strait of Hormuz amid the West Asia conflict.

JNPA described the development as notable in the backdrop of the war involving Iran, the United States and Israel.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday appealed to the people of Assam, Kerala and Puducherry to exercise their franchise in large numbers in the assembly elections in the two states and the Union Territory.

In separate messages in English, besides Assamese, Malayalam and Tamil -- the regional languages of Assam, Kerala and Puducherry respectively -- PM Modi particularly requested the youth and the women to step forward and vote in large numbers.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said the two-week ceasefire in the fight against Iran was "not the end of the war" but a "stop on the way", as he vowed to achieve all war objectives, including the issue of Tehran's enriched uranium.

The US and Iran earlier agreed on a conditional two-week ceasefire that included the opening of the Strait of Hormuz for shipping.

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