US court strikes down Trump’s 10% 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. 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 tirupati l saturday l may 09, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION 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 legislature party leader Left backs Vijay but TVK still 2 seats short e x p r e s s n e 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 outside, bringing TVK’s strength up to 116, only two short of the magic figure. The bone of contention turned out to be the will-they, won’tthey 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 TVK founder-president Vijay met with Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlekar for the third time on Friday | Express 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 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 Suvendu is the Kerala CM race chosen one in WB shifts to Delhi s u v e n d u m a i t i @ Kolkata 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 on Friday . Adhikari and his council of ministers will be 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. 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. Assembly Hours after his election, Adhikari elections 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 (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 . PREE T H A N A IR & K S SREE J I T H @ New Delhi / T’Puram 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. Sources indicated that 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 organisational general secretary, the final decision will largely rest with Rahul,” sources said. The prospects of Venugopal emerging as the CM pick gained fresh momentum after a TNIE report, along with a photograph of the list of supporters in the possession of Wasnik, showed a considera- ble section of Congress 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, 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.