bhubaneswar l saturday l may 09, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l jeypore EDITION U.S. court strikes down donald Trump’s 10% global tariffs A US trade court dealt a fresh blow to President Donald Trump’s tariff strategy on Friday, ruling that his new 10% global tariffs were unlawful no justification to enact tariffs : court Trump had imposed the temporary 10% duty in February under a national emergency law, shortly after the Supreme Court struck down double-digit tariffs the president had levied in 2025 on most nations around the world. In a 2-1 ruling, the panel of judges at the US Court of International Trade found the “administration lacked the justification to enact the tariffs” | P9 ■ 3.3 lakh trump administration can appeal ruling ■ A majority of two judges on the three-judge panel wrote in the ruling that the tariffs were “invalid” and “unauthorized by the law” The Trump administration can appeal the court’s decision, turning first to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington and then, potentially, to the Supreme Court once again importers are eligible for refunds after the court order CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI IUML backs out, VCK yet to confirm support Mamata’s nemesis elected BJP legistature party leader TVK founder-president Vijay, along with party functionaries, met with Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlekar for the third time on Friday, and submitted letters of support from MLAs-elect belonging to the Congress, CPI, CPM and TVK | Express Vijay still two short of the hot seat in TN walkthrough of Friday’s drama e x p r e s s ne w s s e r v i c e @ Chennai Four days after the elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly resulted in a fractured mandate, the fledgling TVK, with its 108 seats, on Friday was still two seats short of the 118 MLAselect required for the party to form a government and its chief C Joseph Vijay to occupy the chief minister’s seat. For the third day in a row, Vijay called on Governor Rajendra Arlekar to stake his claim as the leader of the single largest party in the new House. From its 108 seats in the Assembly the TVK’s strength will , reduce to 107 once Vijay resigns from one of the two constituencies from which he was elected. The TVK’s post-poll alliance with the Congress (five seats) takes the tally up to 112. On Friday the CPI and CPM, with two , MLAs-elect each, offered their support to the TVK from the o u t s i d e, b r i n g i n g T V K ’s strength up to 116, only two short of the magic figure. The bone of contention turned out to be the will-they, won’t-they dance of two DMK allies, the VCK and IUML. Lok Bhavan sources said during that Friday’s meeting, Vijay said both parties, with two MLAs-elect each, promised to support the TVK and that their letters would come in due course. The governor was said to be waiting for the letters to arrive. However, the IUML, by evening, clarified that they remained with the DMK camp and would not be supporting the TVK. The VCK, which appeared to have all but sealed the deal with the TVK, did not send any letter of support by end of day . Senior VCK leaders visited DMK chief M K Stalin at his house late on Friday night but sources maintained that VCK would announce its outside 1 Stalin said they were considering extending external support to the AIADMK and sought our backing. We told him it was not in our alignment since the AIADMK is with BJP M A Baby, CPM gen secy DMK seeks change in LS seating In a sign of deepening tensions, the DMK on Friday formally sought a separate seating arrangement for its Lok Sabha MPs following the collapse of its alliance with the Congress | P7 Following separate executive committee meetings, M Veerapandian and P Shanmugam, the state-unit leaders of the CPI and CPM respectively, announce external support to actor-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam in a joint press meet 2 Vijay meets with Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlekar for the third time. He submits letters of support from MLAselect of the Congress, CPI, CPM and his party 3 VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan holds a high-level meeting with party officebearers via Zoom. According to sources, the party is likely to follow the Left parties’ stance. However, any decision will only be announced by Saturday 4 The IUML, with two MLAs-elect, says it has not backed the TVK and will remain in the DMK alliance. In an earlier letter, the party had stated it would support the governor’s efforts to form a government and DMK president M K Stalin’s request to the governor in this regard 5 The governor’s office announces that the TVK has backing from 116 MLAselect so far, with the VCK yet to submit its letter and the IUML withdrawing support support to TVK on Saturday . In his 15-minute meeting with the governor, Vijay had showed his letters of support from the Left parties and explained that the VCK and IUML had promised support. He requested that the TVK be invited to form the next government. He was accompanied by senior TVK leaders N Anand, K A Sengottaiyan, and Aadhav Arjuna. Curiously, Venkat Narayanan, the producer of Vijay’s film Jana Nayagan, also accompanied the TVK functionaries. With the Lok Bhavan yet to respond to the TVK’s latest effort, the party has put off the swearing-in ceremony that was tentatively planned for May 9 as the governor had given them time only till May 10. At present, only the Congress has taken up the TVK’s offer of a share of power in the state government and is likely to receive a ministerial berth in the cabinet. S Rajeshkumar, who was elected leader of the legislative party for the Congress, would likely take office as minister in a Vijay cabinet, Congress sources said. Adding to the drama in a week with no shortage of it, a lawyer claiming to be a TVK member on Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking directions to the governor to invite the single largest political party to form the government. KC remains key contender for Kerala chief ministership Congress leader V D Satheesan’s supporters take out a march demanding that he be chosen the next Kerala chief minister, in Thiruvananthapuram | pti Union home minister Amit Shah with West Bengal CM-elect Suvendu Adhikari after his election as BJP legislature party chief on Friday in Kolkata | PTI PR E E TH A N A IR & K S SR E E J ITH @ New Delhi / T’Puram s u v en d u ma i t i @ Kolkata amid a three-way leadership contest within the Congress over Kerala’s next chief minister pick, the stakes are high for AICC general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal, according to sources familiar with the developments. Veteran leader Ramesh Chennithala and Leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly V D Satheesan are the other two contenders. AICC-appointed observers Ajay Maken and Mukul Wasnik, who met the newly elected party MLAs, MPs, allies and senior leaders on Thursday submitted their report to , party chief Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday A copy of the . report was also sent to senior leader Rahul Gandhi. Assembly Sources indicated that elections Kharge and Rahul are likely to hold one-to-one meetings with each of the CM contenders. “Since one of the contenders, Venugopal, is currently serving as the AICC or- Swearing-in ceremony ganisational general sec- expected on Monday retary, the final decision will largely rest with Ra- Sources said a consensus is likely hul,” high command after the high command meets K C Venugopal, V D Satheesan, sources said. T h e p r o s p e c t s o f and Ramesh Chennithala. The Venugopal emerging as final decision would be taken the CM pick gained fresh after internal deliberations momentum after a TNIE among Mallikarjun Kharge, report, along with a pho- Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka tograph of the list of sup- Gandhi Vadra. An announcement porters in the possession is likely within a day or two and of Wasnik, showed a con- the swearing-in ceremony is siderable section of Con- expected to be held on Monday gress MLAs endorsed him. Although the observers did not make any recommendation for a specific candidate, sources said a majority of the party MLAs are in favour of making Venugopal the CM, while public sentiment is leaning towards Satheesan. The observers conveyed to Kharge the public mood, the preferences of UDF allies and the political situation in the state. Sources said the public show of strength by the Satheesan camp has not gone down well with the central leadership and might work against his prospects, citing the Rajasthan situation where Sachin Pilot’s open push for the CM post complicated internal party equations. KPCC president Sunny Joseph and working presidents A P Anil Kumar and Shafi Parambil have also reached Delhi. Sources said Kharge and Rahul would convene a meeting of Kerala leaders and the contenders to formally communicate the high command’s decision. “Rahul is also likely to explain how the high command arrived at its decision, along with the political and social considerations behind it,” they added. SENIOR BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, the giant-slayer who defeated TMC chief Mamata Banerjee for two consecutive terms, was unanimously elected leader of the BJP legislature party and the next chief minister of West Bengal. Adhikari and his council of ministers will sworn in at a grand ceremony at the Brigade Parade Grounds on Saturday in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, top ministers and some 20 chief ministers of BJP-ruled states. Shah, the BJP’s central observer for the elections, made the announcement of Suvendu’s election before the 207 newly elected MLAs at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre on Friday . “Eight proposals were given but all of them elected Suvendu Adhikari as the leader. No second proposal came. Therefore, I announce Suvendu Adhikari as the chief minister of West Bengal,” he said. “Suvendu has defeated Mamata-di at her home turf,” Shah added. Names of journalist Swapan Dasgupta and state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya had surfaced in the race, but Adhikari remained the frontrunner after the BJP’s landslide on May 4. Hours after his election, Adhikari proceeded to Lok Bhavan with MLAs’ letters of support staking his claim to form the government. Governor R N Ravi had dissolved the assembly on Thursday, clearing the path for the new administration. Adhikari will be Bengal’s ninth Chief Minister. The last time Bengal had a chief minister from its rural backyards and not from its capital in Kolkata was in 1971 when Ajoy Mukherjee, representing the Indian National Congress Kerala CM race Suvendu to take shifts to Delhi oath as CM today Police ‘laxity, inefficiency’ led to mob lynching of GRP constable A s i s h M e h ta @ Bhubaneswar When the mob was lynching GRP constable Soumya Ranjan Swain in full public glare at Balianta on Thursday morning, the Commissionerate Police sent in just a three-member team in a PCR van to tackle the extremely violent situation, it has been reliably learnt. No senior police officer was at the spot for the next few hours. The PCR van comprising a non-policeman driver, two home guards including a woman and a constable arrived at the spot after receiving a call on emergency response support system (ERSS) dial - 112. It has now emerged that the cops had arranged the plank to which Swain was tied because he was ‘beyond control.’ Police sources say he may have been on some intoxicant or steroids. The response of Commissionerate Police to the volatile situation has come under scrutiny as it provided highly inadequate security and could not prevent the brutal mob justice which has drawn widespread outrage across the country . As per police, after the two women were allegedly assaulted near Ramachandrapur by Swain and his friend Om Prakash Rout, locals rushed to the formers’ rescue. As a large mob Family members of Soumya Ranjan Swain break down outside Capital Hospital mortuary in Bhubaneswar gathered, Rout managed to escape but Swain continued to engage the locals. However, realising he was in trouble he also fled into a farm field by the roadside. The locals, though, caught up with him. Swain, who is also a fitness trainer and bodybuilder, was dragged around by the attackers and rained with blows, kicks and punches. When this was happening barely 7 km from Balianta police station, all the IICs and ACPs of the city were attending the monthly crime meeting at DCP office. The local police station received the emergency call but failed to anticipate gravity of the situation. The PCR team upon its arrival at Ramachandrapur was completely outnumbered and stood no chance to control the frenzied mob. With no police reinforcement in sight, the mob continued to attack Swain in front of the three cops. The police personnel tried to restrain Swain and pack him into the PCR van but in vain. The stocky GRP constable jumped off the van twice. Then the attempt to tie him to the wooden/iron plank was made. Even when he was being carried, the mob did not back down and kept raining the bodily assaults. Eventually, police had to call a pick-up van to shift him to Balakati community health centre but by then he had been seriously injured. Subsequently, Swain was shifted to Capital Hospital where doctors declared CONTINUED ON P5 him dead. ‘Infiltration will be impossible’ Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday said infiltration would become “impossible” in West Bengal under the new BJP government. The importance of this victory is that it plugs one of the biggest holes in national security. Now infiltration and cow smuggling will be impossible,” Shah asserted TMC seeks CBI probe Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy on Friday demanded a court-monitored CBI probe into killing of cadres and vandalism in post-poll violence in West Bengal (Requisitionists), a breakaway faction led by Indira Gandhi after the Congress split in 1969, took charge for his third stint as the state’s CM. Adhikari quit Trinamool in 2020, joined the BJP, and defeated Mamata in Nandigram in 2021 and Bhabanipur in 2026. For Adhikari, the moment marks a full circle with the culmination of a turbulent political journey that traversed the Congress, the Trinamool Congress and finally the BJP trans, forming him from Banerjee’s trusted lieutenant into her fiercest political challenger and eventually the face of Bengal’s first saffron government. PM Modi’s ‘Anga, Banga, Kalinga’ mission completed in Bengal: CM E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Friday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mission of winning “Anga, Banga and Kalinga” has been completed with the massive victory of BJP in West Bengal. Addressing the BJP legislature party meeting at Kolkata as the co-observer to Union Home minister Amit Shah in the selection of Suvendu Adhikari as the first BJP chief minister of the state, Majhi said it has been an unforgettable journey for the BJP in West Bengal which started with three seats in 2011 and crossed 200 in 2026. “The blessings of Lord Jagannath helped BJP secure such a gigantic victory,” he said. Stating that people of Odisha consider West Bengal as their second home, he said the relationship between the states will grow even stronger in the coming days. Majhi said he was very happy that the people of West Bengal have chosen the path of development under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership by opposing injustice, oppression and corruption. CONTINUED ON P5