NGT shoots water notice to six cricket stadiums National Green Tribunal has sent notices to 6 stadiums on non-compliance of its order on using treated water instead of fresh water or groundwater. The stadiums are at Delhi, Raipur, Jaipur, Mumbai, Lucknow and Cuttack tirupati l friday l april 24, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l late city EDITION l ce ti Lucknow, Delhi, Jaipur and no IPL matches Raipur are hosting IPL GT that may take matches. NGT is N el asking why it ic t shouldn’t be no stopped T NG e ic ot n GT N hit CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Trump’s hell-hole jibe on India ‘in TN sees unprecedented 85% turnout Bengal voting highest poor taste’: Govt Super massive polling again T M u r u ganangha m @ Chennai Express read The high-stakes campaign of political parties for the Assembly poll in Tamil Nadu received an equally enthusiastic response from the electorate on the day of polling as the state recorded an unprecedented 85% voter turnout on Thursday . Though the sharp jump from 73.6% in 2021 Assembly polls is predominantly driven by the shrinking of the state’s electorate by about 67 lakh from 6.41 crore to 5.73 crore due to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the scenes at polling booths indicated palpable enthusiasm from voters, particularly from the younger population, in participating in the democratic process. The entry of actor C Joseph Vijay through his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam has already raised the expectations on the surprises the election results may throw up on May 4, when the final results are expected to reveal whether these numbers will translate into substantial realignment of the political order in Tamil Nadu. All districts registered above 75% voter turnout, and around 20 districts registered above 85%. Significantly, of the 234 Assembly constituencies, only seven recorded a voter turnout below 75%, while 42 have recorded voter turnout above 90%, indicating that the participation was widespread. In absolute numbers, the total number of people who voted in the polls went up by 24 lakh from 4.63 crore in 2021 to roughly 4.87 crore in 2026. In 2024 Lok Sabha polls, 4.39 crore voters had exercised their franchise. While incumbent Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin is pitching his re-election as a high-stakes battle for state autonomy against central overreach, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and the BJP were campaigning on the economic promise of a “double-engine Assembly elections government”. Actor Vijay is riding on youth support to challenge the long-standing DMKAIADMK duopoly . The high voter turnout is usually read as a signal of people expecting change. In the 2011 Assembly elections, the state witnessed the highest voter turnout of 78,29%. The incumbent DMK government lost, and the AIADMK came to power. However, there is a need for caution since 2016 witnessed a higher turnout of 74.8% than 73.6% in 2021, but the incumbent AIADMK retained power in 2016 and it lost power in 2021. According to ECINET portal at 11 pm, the Veerapandi Assembly constituency polled the highest (93.40%). What does high turnout mean as both TMC, BJP claim advantage? Stray incidents of violence in Bengal I P8 since Independence SU B H E N DU M A I T I @ Kolkata West Bengal on Thursday recorded its highest-ever voting percentage since Independence at 91.78 for the first phase of assembly elections, 7.06% mere than the previous best of 84.72% in 2021. Voter enthusiasm was visible though the Election Commission of India’s ongoing special intensive revision axed 91 lakh names from the electoral rolls citing various reasons. What also stood out was the rather peaceful polling as no loss of life was reported, though stray incidents of violence were reported from a few districts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated the Election Commission for the peaceful polling. “For the first time in the last 50 years Bengal witnessed peaceful elections with less incidents of violence in the first phase. I congratulate the Election Commission…” he said. Polling was held in 152 of the total 294 seats in the state in the first phase. The second phase for the remaining 142 seats is scheduled for April 29. Women (92.69%) outnumbered men (90.92) at the polling booths, which made it more difficult to read the mandate. Violence erupted in Nawda in Murshidabad district after supporters of the Mamata-led Trinamool Congress and Humayun Kabir’s Aam Janata Unnayan Party clashed with each other, prompting the Central Armed Paramilitary Force to resort to lathi charge. Kabir, an expelled Trinamool leader, is a candidate there. In Kumarganj, BJP candidate SubA newlywed couple after casting vote rata Sarkar was assaulted by goons. in Pettai, Tirunelveli | v karthik alagu CM lays stone for `4,200 cr ReNew unit HC raps indifference of IAS officers TN boats issue: Fishers fined `2.25 cr Visakhapatnam: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday laid the foundation stone for a 6.5 GW solar ingot and wafer manufacturing facility to be set up by ReNew Energy Global at Rambilli. The `4,200 crore greenfield solar ingot-wafer manufacturing facility is likely to generate over 2,100 jobs | P4 Vijayawada: The AP High Court rapped the State government over the alleged arbitrary functioning of IAS officers in matters related to staff promotions and administrative accountability. The court observed that despite repeated instances of official indifference, the government failed to respond even at basic level | P3 Ongole: In a significant development over the controversial release of Tamil Nadu high-speed fishing boats from Juvvaladinne fishing harbour, community heads of the Pattapu Kapu fishermen have imposed a penalty of `2.25 crore on three accused fishermen who admitted their role in the incident | P4 ‘Shoot and kill’ order Trump on Thursday issued shoot-at-sight orders on Iranian boats laying mines to choke traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. “I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot and kill any boat, small boats though they may be... that is putting mines in the waters of the Strait,” he said Not safe to travel to Iran now: Indian embassy The Indian embassy in Tehran cautioned against travelling to Iran in view of resumption of flights. “Airspace restrictions and operational uncertainties due to regional tensions continue to affect flight operations to and from Iran,” it said in its advisory P R E E T H A N A I R @ New Delhi in a sharp response to US President Donald Trump’s repost of a derogatory comment against India on social media, New Delhi on Thursday said that the comments are “uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste”. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that the remarks do not reflect the reality of the India-US relationship, which has long been based on mutual respect and shared interests. “We have seen the comments, as also the subsequent statement issued by the US Embassy in response. The remarks are obviously uninformed, inappropriate and in poor taste,” said Jaiswal. Hours after Trump reposted American political commentator and radio host Michael Savage’s podcast, the US went into day a damage control. Responding to queries from Indian media, a US embassy spokesperson said: “The President has said ‘India is a great country with a very good friend of mine at the top’.” In the podcast, Savage also termed Indian and Chinese immigrants as “gangsters with laptops” who have “stepped on our flag”. Trump shared the transcript and video of the podcast Savage Nation, calling for changes in the US’ birthright citizenship law. “A baby here becomes an instant citizen, and then they bring in their entire family from China, or India, or some other hell-hole on the planet,” it said. The social media post invited scathing criticism from Opposition parties. “Modiji’s dear friend, ‘Namaste Trump’ has shared a note abusing India and using an extremely disparaging term. Modi ji remains absolutely mum on these ridiculous utterances,” said Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge. 55