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A pre-poll survey by Aaraa Poll Strategies Private Limited says the Congress is set to emerge as the single largest party with its least predicted number of seats very close to the magic figure. It predicted defeat of the Chief Minister K.Chandrashekhar Rao in the hands of his rival from Bharatiya Janata Party K.Venkata Ramana Reddy in Kamareddy, though he could win Gajwel.

According to the survey, Congress is set to win in 58 to 67 constituencies, pushing the ruling BRS party to the second position with 41-49 seats. BJP will secure five to seven seats, with massive erosion in the number of votes polled when compared with its previous best.

Exit polls on Thursday disagreed on the outcome of the assembly polls in three of the five states while broadly agreeing that the Congress had the edge in Telangana and Chhattisgarh. The divergence was mainly on Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and to a lesser extent on Mizoram.

If the results on Sunday mirror what the polls are projecting — a big if going by past experience — this round of polls, billed as a semifinal by many, would leave both sides with enough to claim they have the momentum in the run-up to Lok Sabha polls in 2024.

The Centre on Wednesday listed 18 Bills, including legislation aimed at replacing the colonial-era IPC, CrPC, and the Evidence Act, that may come up for debate during Parliament's Winter session, which will be held from December 4-22.

According to a bulletin issued by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, the government also plans to bring a Bill that seeks to increase the strength of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly from 107 to 114 in a bid to provide representation to Kashmiri migrants, displaced persons from Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir and Scheduled Tribes.

Hamas freed 12 more hostages and Israel released 30 Palestinian prisoners on Tuesday, the fifth day of an extended six-day truce between the Palestinian group and Israel. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said the 12 hostages had been transferred from Gaza, and Israel's military confirmed that the 10 Israeli citizens and two foreign nationals were with its special forces on Israeli territory.

The hostages were among some 240 people seized by Hamas gunmen during a rampage into southern Israel on October 7 in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed. Israel's bombardment of Hamas-ruled Gaza in retaliation has killed more than 15,000 Gazans, health authorities there said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised the collective efforts of the government and various agencies in the ongoing rescue operation to evacuate the workers stranded in the Uttarakhand tunnel for the past two weeks, ANI reports.

He urged people to pray for the safe and prompt release of the trapped individuals, highlighting the challenges posed by nature during the rescue efforts.

A landslide on November 12 caused a section of the Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi district to collapse, trapping 41 workers under a substantial mound of debris. Multi-agency rescue operations are being conducted urgently to address the situation.