Exit polls for Haryana and Jammu-Kashmir Assembly elections, released yesterday, indicate a possible political shake-up in both regions with Congress making a strong comeback. The exit polls indicate that the Congress party is on track to regain control of Haryana after a decade in Opposition, ousting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power. Released after the conclusion of voting, the exit polls predict the Congress-National Conference (NC) alliance leading in Jammu and Kashmir, however, without a clear majority the region may see a hung Assembly, with Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the kingmaker.

In Meghalaya, at least 10 people died, including seven of a family, in rain-induced flashfloods that ravaged the South Garo Hills district in the past 24 hours. Incessant rainfall has triggered landslides in Gasuapara region of the district. A senior official said that the family of seven were inside their home in the remote village of Hatiasia Songma when a landslide struck.

Israel’s military struck outside the gates of a hospital in southern Lebanon without warning, killing seven paramedics and forcing the facility to close, the hospital director said a day after one of the most deadly attacks on health workers in the weeks since fighting escalated between Israel and Hezbollah. At least 1,400 Lebanese, including civilians, medics and Hezbollah fighters, have been killed and 1.2 million driven from their homes in less than two weeks.