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 kottayam l friday l april 24, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l 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 g a n a n d h a m @Chennai 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. The entry of actor C Joseph Vijay through his Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam has already raised the expectations on the surprises the results may throw up on May 4. 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%. In absolute numbers, the 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 government”. Actor Vijay is riding on youth support to chal- since Independence lenge the long-standing DMKAIADMK duopoly . The high voter turnout is S U B H E NDU M A I T I @ Kolkata usually read as a signal of people expecting change. In the West Bengal on Thursday recorded its highest-ever voting per2011 Assembly elections, the centage since Independence at 91.78 for the first phase of assemstate witnessed the highest votbly elections, 7.06% mere than the previous best of 84.72% in er turnout of 78,29%. The in2021. Voter enthusiasm was visible though the Election Commiscumbent DMK government sion of India’s ongoing SIR axed 91 lakh names from lost, and the AIADthe electoral rolls citing various reasons. MK came to power. What also stood out was the rather peaceful pollHowever, there is a ing as no loss of life was reported, though stray need for caution incidents of violence were reported from a few since 2016 witdistricts. Prime Minister Narendra Modi connessed a higher gratulated the. “For the first time in the last 50 tur nout of years Bengal witnessed peaceful elections 74.8% than with less incidents of violence in the 73.6% in first phase. I congratulate the Election 2021, but Commission…” he said. the incumPolling was held in 152 of the total bent AI294 seats in the state. The second phase A D M K for the remaining 142 seats is schedretained uled for April 29. Women (92.69%) outpower in numbered men (90.92) at the polling 2016 and it booths, which made it more difficult to lost power in A newlywed couple after casting vote read the mandate. 2021. in Pettai, Tirunelveli | v karthik alagu One dies of suspected sunstroke, 3 suffer sunburns M a n o j V is w a n at h a n @Kochi One person died of suspected sunstroke, while three others suffered sunburns as the state continued to record high summer temperatures on Thursday . The ultraviolet index (UVI) was between 8 and 9—indicating high level of UV radiation—in some places. Sanalkumar M V 37, of Pal, lipoyil in Kannur, who collapsed while working in the sun and was admitted to a private hospital on Wednesday, died on Thursday morning. The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) said it is awaiting his autopsy report to confirm the cause of death. In Nadapuram, Kozhikode, anganwadi teacher Anila suffered sunburn on her hands, while in Malappuram’s Wandoor, four-year-old Isa John suffered sunburn while playing at her home. In Ernakulam, Pandava Baira, a 27-year-old migrant worker from Odisha, was admitted to the Koothattukulam Community Health Centre with burns on his hands and neck following a sunburn he suffered while working at a timber mill. He was later shifted to Muvattupuzha General Hospital. With mercury continuing to hover in the 37-40 degrees Celsius range in the state, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued heatwave warning in Palakkad, Thrissur and Kollam on Friday  ● More on P4 . EXPRESS READ Boy, woman die of snakebite in Kerala Alappuzha/T’Puram: Two persons, an eight-year-old boy in Thiruvananthapuram and a 42-year-old woman in Alappuzha, died of snakebites in the state on Thursday. The deceased are Dikshal of Azhoor near Chirayinkeezhu and Selina of Cheravally in Kayamkulam | 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 HA NA 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