Close battle at the 98th Oscars Two frontrunner films One Battle and Sinners have a chance of breaking the all-time Oscar wins record Best director: Reports quoting Oscar insiders said the Academy is likely to honour One Battle director Paul Thomas Anderson but Sinners director Ryan Coogler is equally deserving Coogler could become the first-ever Black person to win Best Director in the 98-year history of the Oscars SAMBALPUR l monday l march 16, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l CITY EDITION Best film: Leonardo DiCaprio-starring political thriller One Battle is neck-andneck with Michael B Jordan’s bluesy vampire horror Sinners Best actress: A sure thing appears to be best actress nominee Jessie Buckley, who plays William Shakespeare’s wife in Hamnet 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 Poll season begins Election dates for Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Puducherry announced POLL Didi clears DA SCHEDULE arrears, clergy pay hike just in time RA J E S H K U M AR T H A K U R @ New Delhi Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday announced the polling schedule of four states and one Union territory, setting the stage for high-stakes electoral battles that could impact the political future of the ruling TMC in West Bengal, DMK in Tamil Nadu, BJP in Assam, and CPI(M) in Kerala. Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry will go to polls on April 9, while Tamil Nadu will have voting on April 23. West Bengal will vote in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The results, for all, will be out on May 4. The model code of conduct has come into effect immediately with the announcement. Out of West Bengal’s 294 constituencies, 152 assembly segments will vote on April 23 and the remaining on April 29. The two-phase polling in West Bengal marks a significant shift compared with the 8-phase election in 2021. To ensure peaceful voting, the ECI has deployed the highest ever deployment of security forces in the state. West Bengal, held by Mamata Banerjee-led TMC since 2011, is headed for a fight to finish as the BJP is trying hard to win by raising law and order, infiltration, corruption, and appeasement politics as poll issues. “This election is more crucial for us than contests in other states,” a BJP leader said. In Tamil Nadu, the ruling APRIL 9 Assam 126 seats Kerala 140 seats Puducherry Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar during a press meet | PTI Bypolls for 8 seats ECI announced bypolls for eight seats in six states. Bagalkot and Davnagere South in Karnataka, Goa’s Ponda, Dharmanagar in Tripura and Nagaland’s Koridang will vot on April 9; Gujarat’s Umreth and Maharashtra’s Baramati and Rahuri on April 23 DMK is facing stiff challenge from the AIADMK-BJP alliance, while actor Vijay-led TVK’s entry may also upset poll calculations. The Congress is confident of winning Kerala, currently held by the CPM which is eyeing a third term, while the BJP is also fancying its chances of making a breakthrough. BJP-ruled Assam is another state the Congress is trying to stage a comeback. In Puducherry, the ruling AINRC-BJP coalition is hopeful of retaining power as the DMK-Congress alliance is still in seat-share talks. 30 seats APRIL 23 Tamil Nadu 234 seats April 23 & 29 (2 phases) West Bengal 294 seats RESULTS MAY 4 824 Seats across 4 states and 1 Union Territory 17.4 crore Voters eligible to cast votes S U B H E N D U M AI T I @ Kolkata Minutes before the Election Commission announced the Assembly election schedules in four states and Puducherry on Sunday Chief Minister Mamata Ban, erjee in poll-bound West Bengal announced a hike in honorarium for purohits and muezzins, and the clearance of Dearness Allowance (DA) arrears to state government employees. She made the announcement on X at 2.40 pm, 80 minutes before the 4 pm press conference by the Election Commission to announce the poll schedule. Once the election is declared, the model code comes into effect, and such announcements are not permitted. “I am pleased to announce an increase of `500 in the monthly honorariums extended to our purohits and muezzins,” she wrote on X. Addressing state government employees, she said, “They will start receiving their ROPA 2009 DA arrears from March 2026 onwards.” BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari called Mamata’s announcement a “desperate last-minute poll gimmick”. It comes amid a standoff between the state government and its employees. The Supreme Court had directed the government to pay a portion of the DA arrears by March 31. Odisha Cong MLAs ‘offered’ `5 cr each to cross-vote, 2 held in B’luru E x p r e s s N e w s Se r v i c e @ Bhubaneswar/Bengaluru With less than 24 hours remaining for the Rajya Sabha elections, high drama was witnessed at the Bengaluru resort where Congress MLAs from the state have put up for the last three days over alleged attempts to bribe them. Two persons have been arrested in the connection. Karnataka deputy chief minister and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president DK Shivakumar said the two men from Bhubaneswar allegedly entered the resort and tried to contact the legislators clandestinely. They allegedly offered `5 crore each to the eight MLAs to vote in favour of A signed cheque of `17 lakh and a blank cheque have been seized from the two persons who were arrested. Two others have fled. The Odisha CMO is involved in this plan Congress leaders BJP or the Independent candidate backed by it. “A blank cheque signed by a person from Rourkela in Odisha was also recovered from them. The two had booked rooms online and are suspected to have been aided by local BJP workers in Bengaluru,” Shivakumar added. A formal complaint was filed by Odisha Congress MLA and the deputy leader of the party’s Iran keeps up hard talk, open to negotiations on Hormuz a g en c i e s @ Tehran / Tel Aviv IRAN’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Iran was not interested in talks with the US, pushing back on President Donald Trump’s stance that Tehran wants a deal to end the war. “We are stable and strong enough. We are only defending our people ... we don’t see any reason why we should talk with Americans,” Araghchi told CBS in an interview. His remarks came on the 16th day of the war that has jolted energy and oil prices across the world. On Sunday at least eight , people were injured in Israel following missile launches from Iran even as even as Israel kept up strikes on Lebanon. Araghchi said Iran was ready to talk to countries that want safe passge through the Strait of Hormuz. An Indian-flagged crude tanker sailed out safely from UAE’s Fujairah after loading oil on Sunday Jag Laadki is the . fourth Indian-flagged vessel to have come out of the war zone unharmed. legislature wing Ashok Kumar Das. The police registered a case and started the investigation. President of the Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) Bhakta Charan Das and Odisha in-charge Ajay Kumar Lallu alleged that attempts were made to bribe the eight party MLAs by persons close to the top BJP leaders in Odisha and BJPbacked Independent candidate Dilip Ray . Addressing a media conference here, Das and Lallu alleged the four persons Birendra Prasad, Ajit Sahu, Simanchal Mahakud and Suresh tried to meet the Congress MLAs and offered them bribe.  Continued on P5 express read Nor’wester leaves 2 dead in Karanjia Baripada: At least two persons were killed and around 40 others sustained injuries after a severe Kalabaisakhi (nor’wester) struck five villages in Karanjia sub-division of Mayurbhanj district on Sunday afternoon. The deceased were identified as Malati Mahanta (45) of Dumriya in Karanjia and Police Nayak (54) of Haladibata under Patna police limits in Keonjhar. Nayak was on way to Keonjhar from Karanjia when a tree reportedly fell on him during the storm, killing him on the spot. Malati, who was travelling on her scooter, was reportedly blown off the vehicle by the strong winds | P4