Bengaluru: When Bengaluru-based space startup GalaxyEye launched its first commercial satellite, Vision, into orbit on SpaceX’s Falcon-9 rocket on Sunday, it was more than just another launch for India’s private space sector. Drishti, considered India’s largest privately developed Earth observation satellite and the world’s first OptoSAR satellite, also added a rare new capability to the country’s Earth observation fleet: a satellite that can “see” through clouds, darkness and bad weather while simultaneously capturing conventional optical imagery. Suyyash Singh, co-founder and CEO of Galaxy, told TOI: “It will become only the 16th remote sensing satellite available for India, placing it in a small group of spacecraft. “It also has capabilities considered useful for strategic and security applications, for which there are only a few satellites in orbit to date.”Drishti is the world’s first company to carry a “Syncfused OptoSAR” payload combining electro-optical imaging and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on a single platform. Optical satellites provide conventional high-resolution images but are affected by clouds and darkness. Radar satellites, on the other hand, can operate day and night and penetrate clouds, smoke and rain, although their visualization is harder to interpret.GalaxyEye says that by synchronizing and combining both streams of data the satellite can generate more consistent and useful imagery for users on the ground.The spacecraft is expected to support applications ranging from border surveillance and defense surveillance to disaster response, agriculture, infrastructure planning and insurance assessment. For example, during floods, cyclones or landslides, radar imaging can continue to operate even when cloud cover prevents optical satellites from capturing images.Indian Space Association (ISPA) Director General Lieutenant General (Retd) AK Bhatt said, “It marks a significant shift in India’s approach towards Earth observation. It serves as a definitive proof-of-concept for India’s private space sector reforms and signals the transition from small-scale testing to sovereign, all-weather monitoring capabilities critical for national security and disaster response.”AI processing and first imagesAnother key feature onboard is artificial intelligence processing powered by Nvidia’s Jetson Orin computing platform. Instead of sending large amounts of raw imagery back to Earth for analysis, some parts of the processing will take place directly in orbit. The aim is to reduce the time taken to transform satellite imagery into actionable information.GalaxyEye says the satellite can provide imagery at a resolution of 1.5 meters and revisit locations globally every seven to ten days. The spacecraft, approximately the size of a compact refrigerator, also carries a deployable antenna spanning approximately three and a half metres.Following its successful deployment and commissioning, initial imagery is expected to be delivered to customers in the coming weeks. “The satellite has already generated significant interest among government and commercial stakeholders internationally for access to high-quality, high-frequency Earth observation data,” GalaxyEye said after the launch.Following the launch of Vision, the startup plans to build a larger constellation of 8-12 satellites over the next four years, with future versions targeting even sharper imagery.Pawan Goenka, chairman of the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe), India’s space regulator, said: “Continued efforts over the last five-six years on confidence-building, capacity-building and commercialization of India’s private space technology ecosystem are now showing concrete results. Vision is a good example of this – the world’s first OptoSAR satellite from an Indian private company.“

New Delhi: The multi-state electoral verdict on May 4 will be shaped not only by wide swings, but also by a set of constituencies where margins are thin, candidates are high profile and local dynamics are unusually intense. Once counting begins and trends emerge, these seats provide early indications of momentum, coalition cohesion and voter sentiment that could spread across the region. From prestige competition involving chief ministers to testing new entrants in urban battlegrounds, the results from these constituencies will help explain whether power stands or is broken. They also reflect how local issues such as welfare distribution, identity, urban infrastructure and leadership credibility interact with broader political narratives. Keeping a close eye on these seats will provide a clearer read of the decision than just the main seat numbers. This increased relevance can also be gauged from the strong voter participation across various regions, with voter turnout being strong and led by West Bengal’s historic participation of over 92 per cent as well as Tamil Nadu’s turnout in the mid-80s, Kerala’s turnout at over 78 per cent, Assam’s high turnout at almost 90 per cent. PuducherryReflects extraordinary voter mobilization.

Crown vs Challenger: Round 2

In West Bengal, a set of high-visibility contests are likely to shape the narrative early in the day. Bhawanipur remains central, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is defending her long-held bastion against an emerging challenge linked to her ex-protege Suvendu Adhikari and his camp. The seat’s mixed electorate and sharp margins in recent cycles make it a sensitive indicator of urban consolidation for Trinamool. Congress (TMC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).Nandigram again attracts attention as a prestige battleground linked to the earlier rivalry between Banerjee and Adhikari. Identity, local networks and candidate credibility intersect here, and even a small change can carry symbolic weight beyond the constituency. Noapara, located in the Barrackpore industrial area, reflects the churning among working-class voters and the impact of leadership change. The contest there remains a continuation of efforts to re-establish local leadership.Tollygunge and Rashbehari represent urban Kolkata seats where infrastructure claims and governance assumptions are directly tested. BJP’s efforts to expand its footprint in urban areas are facing pressure from TMC based on development and welfare delivery. Together, these seats will indicate whether the BJP can translate its organizational advantage into sustained urban traction or whether the TMC maintains its lead among urban voters. Moreover, maximum eyes will be on the South 24 Parganas region, which has 31 constituencies, making it electorally decisive in the state. Which will play an important role in determining the outcome of the big battle of Bengal.In the 2021 assembly elections, TMC won 215 out of 294 seats, confirming the scale of dominance that the BJP is attempting to challenge.

Overview of West Bengal Elections

Big upsets and survival tests?

In Assam, the focus is on a set of constituencies that tie the leadership stakes with narrow margins. Jalukbari, which is represented by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, is a nod to the urban strength and organizational reach of the ruling coalition. A decisive result in the constituency will strengthen the perception of stability around the current leadership.Jorhat and Nazira are closely watched due to their competitive history and low margins of victory. Jorhat has seen a tight contest between the BJP and the Indian National Congress, which will reveal whether the opposition can translate its presence into seats. Nazira has a legacy dimension associated with the Congress leadership and has made very little difference, which could again prove to be decisive. In the last election, this seat was decided by a margin of just 683 votes, making it one of the closest contests in the state.Barachalla and Golaghat add to the competitive map of the state. Barachala reflects the concerns of rural and semi-urban voters, including agricultural issues and community dynamics, while Golaghat conjures up a larger voter constituency with a history of close contests. The results from these seats will indicate whether the BJP-led alliance can maintain its gains in all areas or whether the Congress can narrow the gap in key areas.

Overview of Assam Elections

In the 2021 election, the BJP-led alliance won 75 out of 126 seats and formed the government with a clear majority.

A new challenger to test the old strongholds?

In Tamil Nadu, key contests bring together leadership, legacy and the entry of a new political force. Kolathur, represented by Chief Minister MK Stalin, is a central test of the ruling party’s urban base. A strong performance will underline the durability of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) support in Chennai.Chepauk Thiruvallikeni has its own weightage with the Deputy Chief Minister Udayanidhi Stalin An attempt is being made to strengthen the party’s position on a seat which has been associated with DMK for a long time. Tiruchirappalli East and Perambur gain prominence due to the presence of Victory and Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam, who are attempting to disrupt the established alignment. These constituencies will indicate whether a new entrant can convert visibility into electoral attraction.Edappadi K. Edappadi is critical of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, represented by Palaniswami. A strong result would indicate that the party has retained a solid base despite recent setbacks. Together, these seats will show whether the state’s political system remains intact or has begun to change with the entry of new actors.In 2021, the DMK-led alliance won 159 seats out of 234, with Stalin’s party securing 133 seats, marking its return to power after a decade.

tamilnadu voting overview

cycle vs continuity

In Kerala, key seats reflect the layered nature of competition shaped by both continuity and challenge. Nemom stands out as a highly competitive suburban constituency where the Left Democratic Front (LDF), the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the BJP-led alliance all have a presence. The result here may indicate whether the BJP can maintain relevance in the triangular setting.Thrissur, often described as a politically sensitive urban centre, reflects changes in voter alignment and the impact of recent electoral trends. Vattiyoorkavu and Puthupalli represent opposite dynamics, with urban infrastructure issues on the one hand and heritage-driven loyalty on the other. Puthuppalli, in particular, holds emotional and historical significance for the Congress.

Kerala polling overview

Kony adds a rural and plantation dimension to the mix, where economic concerns and local development issues are prominent. The combined results from these seats will help determine whether Kerala returns to its alternative pattern or whether the current front can buck that trend.

Power, prestige at stake?

In Puducherry, a smaller electoral map still provides a set of decisive contests. Thattanchavady is at the centre, with Chief Minister N. Rangasamy is defending his base against a challenge from a former chief minister. The outcome will impact the continuity of leadership in the Union Territory (UT).

puducherry polling overview

Mannadipet, with its semi-urban and agricultural mix, is known for close margins and could impact the broader outcome. Raj Bhavan reflects the changing political landscape following leadership changes, making it a seat to keep an eye on for realignment. Lospet, with its educated and urban voters, has shown instability in recent cycles, while Mahé brings a different demographic profile that often creates tight competition.Puducherry recorded nearly 90 per cent voter turnout in 2026, the highest in the country for this election cycle.These constituencies together will indicate whether the ruling coalition can maintain its position or whether the opposition can enter a compact but competitive political space.Within these five areas, the identified constituencies combine leadership stakes, competitive histories, and changing voter preferences. Their results will provide early indications about whether power holds, whether the opposition’s efforts will translate into gains and whether new entrants can reshape established equations. As the count progresses, these seats will provide a detailed understanding of the decision, helping to explain not only who wins, but how and why the outcome took shape.

New Delhi: While West Bengal awaits the results to be declared tomorrow, there was panic after a mobile phone sealed in an envelope was found near the strong room campus of Asansol Engineering College.Along with mobile phones, several documents related to Raniganj assembly constituency were also recovered, which raised suspicion and led to a brief ruckus at the site. A BJP leader alleged that officials were working in favor of TMC and raised concerns over possible irregularities.Claiming that a person attempted to enter the premises with a phone, the BJP leader said, “Someone was attempting to enter here with a mobile phone. Our people caught him. Mobile phones are prohibited. I don’t know what the police is doing. A mobile phone was being taken inside so we stopped it and that is why we are standing here. We will not allow any unethical work to happen here. All the officials are from TMC.”The incident comes amid heavy security deployment outside strong rooms across the state to prevent clashes and ensure the safety of EVMs ahead of the counting day.West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Aggarwal said all arrangements have been made as per the Election Commission guidelines, with a three-tier security system involving central forces, local police and state police. He also warned that strict action would be taken against any negligence.The development comes in the backdrop of a tense election cycle in the state, which has been marred by allegations of violence, voter intimidation and irregularities during voting. Incidents of clashes and vandalism were reported from many areas including Chhapra, Shantipur, Neemtala and Bhangar.In a significant move, the Election Commission ordered fresh polling in the entire Falta assembly constituency citing ‘serious electoral crimes’ and subversion of the democratic process during the April 29 polling phase. Re-polling was also conducted at select booths in South 24 Parganas amid tight security, with officials aiming to restore confidence in the electoral process.The West Bengal Assembly elections were held in two phases on 23 April and 29 April. The results of the high-stakes election will be declared on May 4.

The dust has finally settled on the EVMs across five distinct corners of India. From the rain-washed palm groves of Kerala to the tea-stained hills of Assam, the 2026 Assembly Elections have been a marathon of high-decibel rhetoric, shifting loyalties, and a digital-age makeover of the classic Indian padyatra.While the results remain locked in the strongrooms until counting day on May 4, the campaign itself has already written a story of an India in transition—where regional pride, welfare economics, and the “star power” of new entrants collided in a spectacular display of democratic fervor.

Tamil Nadu’s biggest entry

Before a single vote was cast, Tamil Nadu’s 2026 election was already marked by tragedy and it cast a shadow over everything that followed.On 27 September 2025, Vijay, Tamil cinema’s reigning megastar and founder of the two-year-old Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), held a rally in Karur. He was supposed to arrive around noon. He arrived more than six hours late. By then, tens of thousands of people had packed a venue permitted for 10,000. When his convoy finally appeared, the crowd surged. Then again. Then again. Forty-one people were killed. The dead included children. Tamil Nadu had not seen a death toll like that at a political rally in living memory.cTVK leaders were booked for culpable homicide. The CBI was called in. The campaign that was supposed to announce Vijay as Tamil Nadu’s great political disruptor had instead produced its darkest pre-election moment.And yet, because this is Tamil Nadu, and because Vijay is Vijay, the crowds kept coming.Sources inside the party said Vijay had become highly cautious about attending large public gatherings following the Karur tragedy. Several scheduled events were cancelled despite election permissions being granted. In Tiruverumbur, a TVK candidate campaigned with a Vijay cut-out. In Kolathur, another used a lookalike to attract crowds. The DMK, sensing weakness, pounced. Deputy Chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin mocked the limited schedule openly, describing the approach as a “work-from-home” campaign.The permission battles became their own subplot. With less than a month to go for polling, TVK applied for a rally at Perambur’s Mullai Nagar junction. On the eve of the event, Chennai Corporation officials allegedly dug pits at the venue and erected iron barriers, rendering the site unusable. A police inspection concluded the location couldn’t accommodate 3,000 people. Vijay condemned the turn of events furiously, calling it a “fascist attack on democracy” and accusing certain officials of colluding to disrupt the rally. The DMK called it routine administration. Nobody believed either side entirely.Vijay chose to personally contest from Perambur — the constituency where he grew up — and from Tiruchirappalli East, both seats currently held by the DMK with comfortable margins. TVK leaders framed this as a marker of confidence rather than caution. The sitting MLA in Tiruchirappalli East dismissed Vijay as a non-factor. The voters, it seemed, had not got the memo.

Assam: ‘Point-blank shot’

In Assam, the defining campaign moment wasn’t a rally or a speech. It was an 18-second clip that the ruling party posted, deleted, and then, in an act of extraordinary brazenness, partially brought back.On February 7, the BJP‘s Assam unit shared a video on X that showed chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma symbolically shooting Muslims. The clip contained what looked like real footage of Sarma wielding an air rifle, interspersed with AI-generated images of two individuals in skullcaps and beards being shot at. The post was captioned “Point blank shot.” Before it disappeared from the platform, the video had amassed over a million views.Congress called it a call to mass violence. The CPI and CPM went to the Supreme Court. When asked in the state assembly about his discriminatory policies, Sarma was characteristically unrepentant- “I will take sides. Won’t let ‘Miya’ Muslims take over Assam.”“In a rickshaw, if the fare is Rs 5, give them Rs 4. Only if they face troubles will they leave Assam.” Defending the remarks subsequently, Sarma insisted he was referring to illegal immigrants from Bangladesh.His government simultaneously announced a policy of arms licences for natives in remote areas. When asked if this risked turning Assam explosive, his answer was direct, “I want the situation in Assam to be explosive.”The particular irony at the heart of this story is that Sarma is an unlikely extremist. When he was sworn in as Assam’s chief minister in 2021, nobody could have pointed to an ideological biography that predicted what followed. He had served three consecutive terms on a Congress ticket and been a minister in the Tarun Gogoi government, holding portfolios ranging from health to finance to agriculture. He had no deep roots in the RSS. By the measure of the movement he eventually joined, he was a latecomer. And yet, since joining the BJP in 2015, his rhetoric has regularly outpaced that of many politicians with lifelong Sangh Parivar roots.Woven into the Assam campaign was also the name of Zubeen Garg.Garg, 52, was the state’s most beloved singer, a voice that had travelled well beyond language, into the daily life of the Northeast. On September 19, 2025, he died while swimming off an island in Singapore. A coroner’s court there called it accidental drowning. Sarma did not accept that. He claimed Garg was “murdered as part of a conspiracy.”Congress saw the opening and took it. It promised voters justice in Garg’s death within 100 days of coming to power. Sarma pushed back- the judiciary, he said, was not a campaign promise, and no party could guarantee a court outcome on an election timeline. But in Assam, where Garg’s songs were less entertainment than memory, that kind of correctness had limited reach.

The 90 lakh question

In West Bengal, the most extraordinary number of the campaign season wasn’t a seat projection or a vote-share figure. It was 90 lakh — the number of voters erased from the electoral rolls before a single vote was cast.The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls resulted in close to 90 lakh names being removed from West Bengal’s voter lists, many of them concentrated in border areas and non-elite rural, caste, and minority-heavy districts. Of those who filed appeals, roughly 27 lakh individuals sought restoration of their voting rights. Just about 1,400 voters were actually able to secure relief through the tribunals set up to review cases — leaving almost all applicants without restoration.1,400 out of 27 lakh. The TMC said the exercise risked disenfranchising genuine voters. The BJP said it was a necessary correction of bogus entries and names of illegal migrants. The matter went to court. Against this backdrop, West Bengal recorded its highest-ever voter turnout. The first phase saw a 92.8% turnout, a record, arriving after the 90-lakh reduction in the voter roll earlier in the year. Mamata Banerjee, seeking a fourth consecutive term, delivered one of the most-quoted lines of the entire election season. At a rally in Kolkata’s Chowringhee, she said: “Remember this, you cannot defeat us. We fight against injustice; we fight for our rights. I was born in Bengal, and I shall breathe my last in this very Bengal. I will take over Delhi once I have secured victory in Bengal. I will do so by rallying all the political parties together. I won’t want the seat of power; I want the complete dismantling of the BJP in Delhi.” Amit Shah, campaigning in Kolkata at the same time, responded with a laugh, saying she had nothing left in Bengal, so how would she go to Delhi. The exchange dominated headlines for days.

Fish, identity and political theatre

But if one image captured the texture of West Bengal’s 2026 campaign more vividly than any speech or slogan, it was a fish.Koustav Bagchi, a lawyer-turned-politician and the BJP’s candidate from Barrackpore, moved from door to door in crisp white and red traditional attire, a fish in hand. Drums thudded behind him as supporters chanted his name. A few kilometres away in Kolkata’s port area, another BJP candidate, Rakesh Singh, staged a similar spectacle, dressed for effect and flanked by party workers, hoisting a fish repeatedly as he moved through early-morning crowds, taking on city mayor Firhad Hakim in one of the state’s high-profile contests.In Bengal, fish is more than food. It is the bloodstream of the cuisine. In 2026, that resonance was being staged as political theatre, with candidates brandishing it to quell a very specific anxiety.

The anxiety had been created by Mamata Banerjee herself. At a rally in Basirhat’s Swarupnagar, she tore into what she called the BJP’s fish “lies”, saying Bengal “eats up what it produces,” and questioned the saffron party’s silence on the “targeting of meat and fish shops” if it was such a big fan of the aquatic vertebrate. “In their states, they will not allow you to eat fish, meat and eggs. Who are they to decide what people will eat?” she thundered. She also reminded the audience of how “people are tortured and lynched in BJP-governed states for speaking in Bengali.”The BJP scrambled to answer on its own terms. BJP MP Anurag Thakur participated in a public show of eating fish during a poll campaign. Seen eating fish and meat with party workers at a local hotel in Kolkata, he said: “The BJP has Chief Ministers in 16 states. There, people can eat whatever they want and they can practice whichever religion they want. We do not want to impose restrictions on food or religion.” He then accused Banerjee of spreading misinformation to malign his party’s image.From PM Modi to Amit Shah, the fish debate reached the campaign speeches of even the top brass of the BJP as they tried to shed their “outsider” and “vegetarian” image in Bengal. The campaign had reduced, at one level, to a contest over who could more convincingly claim the right to a plate of hilsa.

Triangular tussle in God’s own country

Kerala has had a simple political rule since 1982: Left wins, Left loses. Congress wins, Congress loses. Swap. Repeat. Pinarayi Vijayan broke it in 2021 by winning two terms in a row. In 2026, he was going for three — something no Kerala government has ever done.That was one story. The bigger story on the campaign trail was the BJP. For the first time in the state’s political history, a strong three-way contest was visible in nearly every constituency. Unlike previous elections, where the LDF and UDF often benefited from tacit cross-voting to keep the BJP at bay, both fronts this time found themselves under genuine pressure from the NDA. The closing days of the campaign were marked by controversy on all sides. In Palakkad, BJP workers were allegedly caught distributing cash, with videos circulating widely. The Congress, meanwhile, faced allegations over the misuse of funds collected for housing landslide victims in Wayanad. Both stories spread fast. Both were loudly denied. What also stood out was the spectacle of two national INDIA bloc partners spending much of the campaign attacking each other rather than the BJP. Each alliance accused the other of colluding with the BJP and compromising Kerala’s secular tradition. The campaign period was also unusually short- just three weeks. Despite that, Prime Minister Modi, home minister Amit Shah, and Rahul Gandhi all visited the state multiple times. Everyone wanted Kerala. Everyone treated it like it could actually change hands.