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US President Donald Trump has congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his "historic and decisive" election victory, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday. "Just last month on their phone call, President Trump expressed to Prime Minister Modi his admiration and how lucky India is to have him as its leader," White House Spokesman Kush Desai told PTI. "The President congratulates Prime Minister Modi on this recent, historic, and decisive election victory," he added. On Monday, the BJP scripted history by securing more than two-thirds majority in the West Bengal assembly polls, ending the 15-year rule of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The party also retained Assam for a third term.
Kerala's voter turnout in the April 9 Assembly elections has tentatively risen to 79.70 per cent after the inclusion of service voters' postal ballots, CEO Rathan U Kelkar said on Sunday. Addressing a press conference here, Kelkar also outlined elaborate arrangements for the counting of votes scheduled for Monday. He said the polling percentage for the Assembly election was 79.63 per cent, excluding postal ballots of service voters. The chief electoral officer said 53,984 postal ballots had been issued to service voters, of which 20,028 had been received as of May 1. "Service voters can submit postal ballots till before counting begins. We have directed the postal department that postal ballots received from service voters, including on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, should be handed over to the returning officers without delay," he said. He said the receipt of service voters' postal ballots had increased the polling percentage by 0.07 percentage points. "The present voting ..