The Supreme Court stayed the first information reports registered by the West Bengal Police against Enforcement Directorate officials in connection with searches of the premises of political consultancy I-PAC last week. The bench also issued notice to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and several West Bengal Police officers on a petition filed by the central agency, alleging that they obstructed the searches.

The court said that the alleged interference of the state in ED’s searches was a “serious issue” that needed to be examined.

It also observed that while central agencies do not have the authority to interfere with the election-related work of political parties, it must be examined whether a bona fide investigation into serious offences can be obstructed on the grounds that party activities are being hampered. Read on.

As voting for 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra was underway, the Opposition parties raised concerns about the use of marker pens on the electors’ fingers instead of indelible ink to ensure that they did not vote multiple times. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray said that if a voter was to use a hand sanitiser, “the ink disappears”.

Mumbai’s Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani said that the administration will investigate complaints related to the use of the marker pens. On the other hand, the State Election Commission said that attempting to erase the ink applied on an elector’s finger “and thereby trying to create confusion among voters is a malpractice”.

As of 3.30 pm, the voter turnout in Mumbai stood at 41%. In Pune, some electronic voting machines reported glitches during the initial hours of polling, but officials said that the faulty devices were replaced. Read on.

The Supreme Court asked the Election Commission to consider extending the deadline for filing objections to the deletion of names from Kerala’s draft electoral rolls following the special intensive revision. The bench made the suggestion citing difficulties faced by voters in accessing details of those excluded.

It also directed the poll body to publicly display the names of excluded voters at gram panchayat offices or other public offices in villages, and to publish the list on its official website. Read on.

United States President Donald Trump claimed he had been told that the killing of protesters in Iran had stopped and that “there is no plan for executions”. However, he provided no details and did not identify his sources, describing them only as important sources “on the other side”.

He added that he would later “find out” whether the information was true and said the US would wait and watch how events unfold before deciding on any action.

The US president’s claims came hours before Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that “there is no plan” to hang people, when asked about the crackdown on nationwide anti-government protests. Read on.

If you haven’t already, sign up for our Daily Brief newsletter.