chennai l sunday l may 03, 2026 l `12.00 l PAGES 28 l late city EDITION Women’s t20 World Cup: Harman & Co. aim for global glory After the home triumph at ODI World Cup, India look to create a dynasty in the shortest format at the event to be held in England this Summer Captain Harmanpreet at the squad announcement in Mumbai on Saturday | PTI Amanjot, kashvee injuries big issues The biggest concern remains the injury blows to all-rounders Amanjot Kaur and Kashvee Gautam. Amanjot, crucial to India’s ODI 50-over WC win, is down with a back injury, while Gautam is expected to undergo knee surgery. In their absence, the all-rounder balance is a concern, and the selectors have tried to cover it up with Radha Yadav’s experience ■ 2020 call up for nandni, comeback for yastika ■ Chandigarh seamer Nandni Sharma, who had a stellar WPL season with Delhi Capitals, has earned a maiden international call Yastika Bhatia, who missed the ODI WC, has made a comeback as back-up keeper. England held the inaugural in 2009. In that event, India had reached the last four stage of the tournament | P15 Their best finish came in 2020 when they reached the final 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 OWN EVERY M O M EN T in WHITE WITH THIS ISSUE Her Last Stand PLUS 12 P AGES Rare full Falta repoll fiat Major ECI crackdown after reports of violence following threats by TMC goons to voters S u b h e n d u m a iti @ Kolkata IN an extraordinary move, the Election Commission (EC) late on Saturday ordered ‘fresh’ repolling in all 285 polling stations of the Falta assembly seat in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district on May 21 due to “subversion of democratic process” and “severe electoral offences”. Re-election in an entire assembly seat has not been ordered in the recent past. The fresh poll will take place on Thursday, May 21 and the counting of votes will happen on Sunday May 24. , The Commission invoked its constitutional powers under Article 324 to annul the earlier polling on April 29, citing “serious irregularities” that compromised the integrity of the electoral process in a large number of booths. Earlier in the day Falta was in the thick of , things as it recorded tense moments leading to protests from a large section of voters who staged a gherao for over seven hours, alleging they were receiving life threats from TMC workAssembly ers in the area. elections Considering the situation in Falta, the ECI directed registering of FIRs against Israfil Chowkidar, gram panchayat pradhan at Hasimnagar and an associate of Jahangir Khan, Trinamool candidate from Falta, and another TMC worker Sujauddin Sheikh, to restore confidence among voters. Jahangir is a close lieutenant of Abhishek Banerjee, TMC national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP . The protesters, many of them women and holding BJP flags, blocked the road in Hasimnagar village. “TMC’s Israfil Chowkidar has threatened us that if these people win, they will burn our houses and indulge in bloodshed,” they claimed. The CRPF deputy commandant assured the demonstrators of ensuring their safety Khan . dismissed the allegations and said the women were “deployed” by the BJP “If the charges are . proved, I am ready to face the law,” he said. On Friday the EC had ordered re-election in , 15 polling stations of two Assembly seats in West Bengal — Diamond Harbour and Magarhat Paschim. Re-poll: 87% voter turnout Repolling in 15 booths of two assembly constituencies in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district concluded at 6 pm on Saturday, with around 87 per cent turnout recorded an hour before the close of voting, an official said. A voter turnout of 86.90 per cent was recorded till 5 pm, with the figure from one booth still awaited, he said. Mamata bullish of good show West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday told counting agents of the party that it will secure over 200 of the 294 assembly seats. The agents were asked to apprise them about the situation at all counting centres. S V K R I S H NA C H A I TANYA @ Chennai In a significant push to make air pollution control more accountable, the southern bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed that public funding under India’s clean air programme be tied to measurable improvements in air quality, even as it flagged persistent pollution hotspots in Tamil Nadu and other southern states. In its judgment dated April 28, the bench, comprising Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Prashant Gargava, ordered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Puducherry to prepare sectorwise implementation roadmaps within six months, clearly linking budgets with targeted reductions in PM10 and PM2.5 levels. The tribunal also directed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to revamp fund allocation guidelines under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) so that future releases are contingent on sector-specific emission reductions and demonstrable air quality gains. While Tamil Nadu broadly reports “Good” to “Satisfactory” air quality, the NGT cautioned that localised PM10 exceedances persist, particularly in industrial and urban clusters. In Chennai, pollution sources remain diverse — road dust (27.9%), transport (23.2%), industry (20.2%) and biomass burning (12.7%) — reflecting a complex emissions profile, according to the Greenpeace ‘Spare the Air 2’ report that informed the tribunal’s suo motu proceedings.  P7 e x press re a d Phones beep as govt tests disaster alert system New Delhi: Mobile phone users received an alert on their cellphones with a loud beep as India tested its emergency alert system. Phones buzzed and users received a flash message. “This is part of the testing of the Emergency Alert System, so that accurate information can be received on time during disasters,” officials said. | P9 Teach Ambedkar’s life history in schools: HC to TN Madurai: Stating that the true tribute to Dr BR Ambedkar lies in ensuring that every child knows why he matters to India, the Madras HC has directed the TN government to include the life history and achievements of the ‘Father of Indian Constitution’ in the school curriculum for Classes 3-10 from the academic year 2027-28 | P4 THE Indian Army is looking to build its own sovereign swarm warfare capability and has begun search for a joint development partner to develop an indigenous swarm algorithm that could eventually provide it with a unified command and control framework for networked drone operations. Top sources told this paper that the Army has invited bids for the project and will hold a pre-bid meeting in the second week of May “This is far bigger . than simply acquiring another swarm capability,” a source said. “What the Army is trying to do is build a common architecture of its own, so swarm operations are no longer tied to individual vendors or proprietary systems.” The project comes at a time 3-tier security for counting of votes on May 4 while 240 additional halls will handle postal ballots and Electronically TransWith Tamil Nadu gearing m i t t e d P o s t a l B a l l o t s up for the counting of votes (ETPBs). In total, as many as for the 2026 Assembly elec- 4,611 counting tables will be tions on May 4, Chief Elec- used, of which 3,324 are altoral Officer located for EVMs, (CEO) Archana QR code-based 993 for postal balPatnaik on Satur- photo IDs to be lots and 294 for day said that a ETPBs. used for entry three-tier security Shedding light For the first time in system has been on the three-tier election history, put in place. Votes security system, QR code-based photo polled at 75,064 the release stated IDs will be used for booths on April 23 that the outer layentry. The inner layer, and postal ballots er will cover a near counting halls will be counted on and EVM strongrooms, 100-metre radius Monday. Mean- will be secured by CAPF around the countwhile, the Tami- personnel. Meanwhile, ing centres, relaga Vettri Ka- TVK has urged the CEO stricting entry to zhagam (TVK) has to create a 1-km sterile authorised perzone around all the urged the CEO to sons. The middle counting centres enhance security layer at entry gates across all 62 countwill be guarded by ing centres, and called for State Armed Police Forces, the creation of a one-km regulating access and move“sterile zone” around each ment. The inner layer, near centre. counting halls and EVM The CEO, in a press re- strongrooms, will be secured lease, said that as many as by Central Armed Police 234 counting halls have been Forces (CAPF), with strict arranged for the Electronic checks to prevent banned Voting Machines (EVMs), items like phones.  P7 EX P RESS NEWS SERV I CE @ Chennai Local residents stage a protest in Falta, South 24 Parganas, on Saturday after being allegedly threatened and assaulted by a TMC leader | PTI No SC order on TMC appeal over counting SUC H I T RA K ALYAN MO H AN T Y @ New Delhi A special bench of the Supreme Court on Saturday refused to pass any order on a Trinamool Congress plea challenging the decision of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to appoint only Central government employees and PSU staff as counting day supervisors in West Bengal. A two-judge bench of justices P S Narasimha and Joymalya Bagchi observed that the ECI has the liberty to choose the counting personnel it wants to deploy. Besides, the ECI’s April 13 circular provides for deployment of state government employees as well, so it cannot be said to be incor- rect, the court reasoned. For its part, the ECI assured that the state’s nominee will be present during counting. “No further orders are necessary in this case except to record the statement of Dama Seshadri Naidu that the Election Commission will implement the circular dated 13th April, 2026 in true letter and spirit,” the bench said. The TMC filed the appeal after the Calcutta High Court upheld the ECI’s discretion in appointing Central government employees for counting. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, for TMC, questioned both the timing and basis of the decision, arguing that the circular was not communicated to stakeholders until April 29. ‘Show results for funds Army launches sovereign swarm spent’: NGT’s air quality capability push, seeks design partner mandate for south states j a v a r i a r a n a @ New Delhi 62 centres, 10,545 personnel Indigenous control The stress on indigenous control comes amid persistent security concerns over Chinese components in drone systems after past vulnerability scares triggered tighter scrutiny of military drone supply chains when contemporary conflicts have underscored the operational value of networked drone swarms across surveillance, logistics, payload delivery and adaptive combat roles. The project is structured in two phases over six months, beginning with an initial twomonth stage focused on developing an indigenous ground control station and software integration framework. “The focus is on creating a secure common control layer over existing drone assets, with fully offline capability built in from the outset,” the source said. The second phase, spanning four months, expands the model from centralised control to decentralised swarm autonomy, with onboard computing, indigenous software stacks and greater battlefield resilience. “The objective is to test whether these prototypes can continue functioning in tougher, more realistic operational conditions, rather than only in controlled environments,” the source said. It will test adaptive formations, task reassignment, collision avoidance and the swarm’s ability to sustain operations even when communications are disrupted, drones are lost or navigation systems come under strain. Vijay’s TVK gets ready for ‘resort politics’ P RAB H A K AR TAM I LARASU @ Chennai Staring at the possibility of a hung Assembly once the poll results are out on May 4, TN parties are bracing themselves for the infamous ‘resort politics’ as Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) has made arrangements to corral its victorious candidates at a resort in Poonjeri near Mahabalipuram. It’s pertinent to note that a day after the exit poll results were declared last Wednesday, Vijay issued a statement asking his party candidates to rush to the party headquarters at Panaiyur without delay if they are declared the winners on May 4. With different exit poll surveys giving the upper hand to different parties — DMK alliance, TVK, and AIADMK bloc — TVK chief and actor C Joseph Vijay had asked his party functionaries to keep the resort ready for accommodating at least 100 winning candidates. “After the meeting with party candidates on Thursday, Vijay asked the functionaries to book the resort to accommodate the winning candidates,” a source privy to the developments told TNIE. According to sources, TVK usually arranges state-level functionaries’ meet at the private resort in Poonjeri. The resort could accommodate more than 100 people. The source also added that Vijay had sarcastically told the candidates at the meeting “not to go anywhere after winning the seat”. Vijay has also asked his party’s legal wing to be prepared for all eventualities and advised the party’s general secretary (election campaign management), Aadhav Arjuna, to give a representation to the Election Commission of India to bolster security to prevent disturbance to law and order on the counting day sources said. , Meanwhile, the ruling DMK is confident of coming back to power as the single largest party and has instructed its party workers to be vigilant during the counting.  P7 IPL final representative pic Bengaluru’s turn but BCCI yet to finalise venue express news service @ Chennai IN March 2026, Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) had said that Bengaluru would host the final and a playoff match of this year’s edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, with the schedule for the play-off and final yet to be announced, Devajit Saikia, board secretary refused to , confirm whether Bengaluru will retain the right to host the final as defending champions. “We are working on which can be the appropriate venue for the IPL playoff and the final,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Indian squad announcement for the women’s T20 World Cup. “You keep on guessing, but I am not going to give a reply We are taking a call . in two days.” Usually the defending cham, pions host the final and a play-off game. That practice, however, was not followed in 2025 when the final was moved from Kolkata to Ahmedabad (the BCCI had cited the threat of rain) and the Royal Challengers Bengaluru won the title. It remains to be seen whether the board allots one of the year’s marquee clashes to Ahmedabad this year as well. Action against RR Meanwhile, days after Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag was fined 25 per cent of his match fee for vaping in the dressing room, Saikia confirmed that the board is exploring options to take stringent action against the franchise. “We are exploring some other options on how to rein in the teams which are violating the norms,” he said. “We will be taking some action. We are looking at the various terms and conditions and protocols of IPL on how the teams should behave. It is not only the players or the officials. As a team, they have to maintain certain decorum so that the image of IPL is never adversely affected. To ensure that, we have to take a call and we will be taking some action.” Khalistani radicals security threat: Canada The Canadian Security Intelligence Service has flagged Khalistani extremists operating out of Canada as an ongoing national security threat, adding their activities continue to promote a violent agenda | P9