hyderabad l tuesday l august 18, 2026 l `9.00 l PAGES 16 l late city EDITION Ayush causes big upset, defeats World no. 1 Shi Yu Qi in delhi India’s Ayush Shetty takes a selfie with young fans after his win | Sayantan Ghosh three-game thriller in first round India’s Ayush Shetty causes biggest upset at the Badminton World Championships on Monday. 2019 champion PV Sindhu too enters next round This is not the first time the 21-year-old has upset a top player. He has habit of taking down some of the big names in world badminton like Li Shi Feng, Jonatan Christie and Kunlavut Vitidsarn before winning the Asian Championships silver. Shuttler, who hails from Karnataka defeated Shi 21-14, 13-21, 21-19, in a gripping first round men’s singles contest. ■ 1st An Se-young and others advance ■ S Korea’s An Se-young, World No 1 in women’s singles, too entered 2nd round with a straight-game win over Kaloyana Nalbantova Apart from Sindhu & Ayush, the doubles players — Hariharan Amsakarunan/MR Arjun, Treesa Jolly/Gayatri Gopichand and Kavipriya Selvam/Simran Singhi — also advanced | P11 The win was ayush’s first over Shi in four meetings 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 92 lakh voters face notices Irani, Madhav back in core nat’l team in BJP rejig as ECI publishes draft rolls R A J E S H K U M A R T H A K U R @ New Delhi THE BJP on Monday revamped its core national team under party president Nitin Nabin, announcing appointments to key positions including national vice-presidents, national general secretaries, and national secretaries, apart from key posts in the media and social media departments and the party’s various Morchas. The reshuffle, which comes ahead of an expected Cabinet rejig, reflects a blend of both experienced and young faces, with the average age being 50. Among the 13 national vicepresidents, three—former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Baijayant Panda and Rekha Verma—have retained their positions while 10 have been elevated or inducted from other party responsibilities. Lal Singh Arya, for instance, has been promoted to national vice-president from his earlier position as national president of the BJP’s SC Morcha. Among the most notable changes is the return of former Union minister Smriti Irani, who had been kept out of party responsibilities for several years, to an important role as a 60.5 L voters flagged for anomalies, 32.36 L for not being mapped Over 92 lakh electors are set to receive notices from the Election Commission of India (ECI) during the next stage of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), following the publication of the draft electoral rolls in Telangana on Monday . The draft rolls were released by Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) C Sudarshan Reddy and have been published for all 119 Assembly constituencies in the state. The notices will cover 60.5 lakh electors identified with anomalies and another 32.36 lakh electors who could not be mapped to the 2002 electoral rolls. The maximum number of notices is likely to be issued in Hyderabad district, officials said. The anomalies identified during the revision include an age gap of less than 15 years between a voter and a parent, an age gap of more than 50 years between a voter and a parent, an age gap of less than 40 years with grandparents, six or more voters mapped to a single person in the previous SIR list and a gap of less than nine months between siblings, among other categories. Electors receiving notices over anomalies will have to establish their relationship with the person whose details were used for mapping to the 2002 SIR list and submit the prescribed documents. Those identified as unmapped will also receive notices through Booth Level Officers (BLOs). The claims and objections period will continue until September 16, 2026. Genuine electors whose names do not figure in the draft rolls can seek inclusion, while electors can also seek Section 22-A Help Toll-free: 1800 5994788 Response: For: Prohibited Within lands information three days and assistance Ponguleti apologises for 22-A mess, vows resolution E x p ress N e w s S er v i c e @ Hyderabad Apologising to those who faced difficulties due to the mistakes made by officials, Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy on Monday acknowledged errors in updating the prohibited lands list and announced the constitution of a high-level committee to resolve issues relating to lands included under Section 22-A of the Registration Act. He said the committee would meet once a week to review applications and related issues and take appropriate decisions. The minister held a review meeting at the Secretariat with collectors, additional collectors, RDOs, registrars and subregistrars of Hyderabad, Rang areddy, Sang areddy and Medchal-Malkajgiri districts. Later, speaking to reporters, Srinivasa Reddy apologised to the public on behalf of officials for difficulties caused by errors in land records. He assured that privately owned properties would be removed from the Section 22-A prohibited list wherever they had been wrongly included.  continued on P4 What to do next, sir? Check Your Name How to check whether your name is included in the draft electoral rolls for Telangana. 3 steps to check Go to the Chief Electoral Officer, Telangana website Click on “Special Intensive Revision Draft Electoral Rolls2026” Select your District > Assembly Constituency > Polling Station > Part Number/Part Name and download the draft roll PDF. Also available on  ECINET Mobile App  ECI Voters’ Service Portal Claims & objections August 17–Sep 16, 2026 Final electoral rolls: October 19, 2026 92 lakh notices, but why? 60.51 lakh electors identified with anomalies 32.37 lakh electors who could not be mapped to the 2002 rolls Anomaly cases: You will have to establish your relationship with the elector whose details were used for mapping to the 2002 SIR roll and submit the prescribed documents. Unmapped electors: You will receive a notice through the Booth Level Officer and will have an opportunity to establish your eligibility and provide the required documents. If you receive a notice, What can you file? An appeal against an ERO’s order can be filed before the District Election Officer within 15 days. A second appeal can be filed before the Chief Electoral Officer within 30 days of the DEO’s order. Applications can be submitted physically to the ERO, AERO or BLO, or online through the ECI Voters’ Service Portal and ECINET mobile application. If you disagree with a deletion ERO decision > District Election Officer > Chief Electoral Officer Form 6: Application for enrolment of a new elector Form 6A: Application for addition by an overseas Indian Form 7: Objection to proposed inclusion or request for deletion Form 8: Change of residence, correction of particulars, replacement of EPIC without correction or marking of PwD elector correction of details or file objections to wrongful inclusion. The disposal of claims and objections, including completion of the prescribed notice process, will be taken up from August 17 to October 15. The final electoral rolls are scheduled to be published on October 19. Sudarshan Reddy said that, as of August 10, 2026, Telangana had 3,38,26,448 electors, of whom 2,64,87,213, or 78.30%, Pic: Vinay Madapu S B a c han J ee t S i n g h @ Hyderabad had submitted their enumeration forms during the enumeration phase. The remaining 21.70% were classified as Absent, Shifted, Dead/Deleted and Duplicate (ASDD) electors. Of the ASDD electors, 9,22,229 (2.73%) were identified as deceased, 57,46,803 (16.99%) as Permanently Shifted/Absent/Others and 6,70,203 (1.98%) as enrolled at multiple places in the electoral roll.  continued on P4 CM inaugurates TIMS, says others to be ready by Dec ’27 E x p ress N e w s S er v i c e @ Hyderabad Stating that the new Osmania Hospital, TIMS hospitals at Alwal and LB Nagar and the super-speciality hospital at Warangal would be completed by December 7, 2027, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy inaugurated the Marri Chenna Reddy Telangana Institute of Medical Sciences (TIMS) Hospital at Sanathnagar on Monday along with Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka and Ministers C Damodar Rajanarasimha, Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Ponnam Prabhakar. The chief minister said that the government would inaugurate one of these hospitals every month until then. Addressing the gathering later, he said the government was giving priority to the health and education sectors. He advised nurses and paramedical staff to learn German, Japanese and South Korean, saying there were lakhs of jobs in these countries. He said the government had recruited around 16,000 staff in the health department and was treating spending on health and education as an investment rather than expenditure. “In the last 32 months, this government has spent `2,700 crore under Aarogyasri scheme and `2,526 crore under the CMRF, totalling `5,226 crore. No previous government spent so much on the health of poor people. This government allocated an average of `13,000 crore for the Health department every year in the Budget. Since coming to power, we have spent `21,800 crore on public health,” he said.  continued on P5 New team Some of the most notable changes in the organisational reshuffle of the BJP Smriti Irani national general secretary She . In the rejig, several promijoins a group that includes nent faces were let go. These prominent figures Satish Poo- include IT Cell chief Amit nia, Harish Dwivedi, Sunil Malviya, BJP Yuva Morcha Bansal, Vinod Tawde, Biplab president and Lok Sabha MP Kumar Deb, among others. Tejasvi Surya, Dushyant GauThe 16-member group tam, Sanjay Mayukh, of national secretaries Saroj Pandey, Laxmiincludes four women, inkant Vajpayee and cluding Irani. The othArun Singh. The newly ers are Kavita Patidar, Among the unexPhangnon Konyak, and appointed team pected appointments brings together Sangeeta Yadav. is that of academic organisational Tawde and Bansal experience, energy Deepak Mhaskey as have retained their or- and grassroots the head of the BJP’s ganisational responsisocial media departconnect bilities as national genment, replacing Prime Minister eral secretaries. Malviya. Narendra Modi Several established Mhaskey will head party faces, including the department as conArun Singh, Dushyant Kumar venor, assisted by Priti Gandhi, Gautam, Tarun Chugh and Dr Shivanand Dwivedi, Alok Bhatt Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, and Arun Yadav. have been dropped from the naThe organisational revamp tional general secretary-level marks the return of RSS ideoorganisational structure. logue Ram Madhav to the prom- Soren blinks, cancels all dodgy state exams mukesh ranjan & p ree t ha na i r @ Ranchi/New Delhi Twenty-four days after student protests in Jharkhand against exam irregularities, Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Monday blinked and agreed to their demand to cancel the Jharkhand Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level (JSSC-CGL) examination and all exams conducted by a private agency, TSR Data Processing Pvt Ltd (TDPL) since 2014. The decision came hours after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wrote to Soren urging him to “listen to the students”. The protesting students thanked the chief minister for the decision but said the protest will continue as their demand for a CBI in- quiry is yet to be fulfilled. Soren said a decision has also been made to cancel all exams conducted by TDPL as also all results published by it. “Today, we held a special Cabinet meeting to bring this matter to a conclusion. We have decided to cancel all examinations conducted by TDPL, the results published by TDPL, and the selection or participation of any candidates through TDPL,” said Soren. The CM also said an exam reforms committee headed by senior IAS officer Amitabh Kaushal will be constituted soon. However, a new problem erupted as cancelling all exams would render around 2,000 aspirants who had cleared them without jobs. These students have begun a protest outside the state secretariat. In his pushback, minister Sudivya Kumar said candidates whose exams were cancelled by the government are free to take the legal recourse. As for student leader Devendra Mahto, who is on a hunger strike for 16 days, he said he will soon reach the protest site in Ranchi to break his fast. Rahul had urged Soren to personally meet the student representatives and take steps to resolve the issue at the earliest. “I am writing to suggest that you personally meet representatives of the students. This will help reinforce the government’s commitment to resolve their concer ns,” Rahul said. “Please do your utmost to hear them out and take appropriate action towards the resolution of this issue,” he said. Student-protesters in a jubilant mood after the Jharkhand cabinet decided to cancel the Combined Graduate Level exam, in Ranchi on Monday; Chief Minister Hemant Soren (left) with cabinet ministers making the announcement | PTI Ram Madhav Deepak Mhaskey inent position of national vice president. His induction is being seen as a move towards strengthening coordination between the RSS and the BJP . The revamp has also sought to ensure broad geographical representation. Among the national vice-presidents, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Delhi, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Karnataka and West Bengal have received representation. The eight national general secretaries include leaders from Maharashtra, Delhi, Tripura, UP, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. Union Minister Piyush Goyal has retained his position as national treasurer, while B L Santhosh continues as national general secretary (organisation), a key post in the party . Pvt N-plants: SC seeks clarity on judicial power to set relief amount S u c h i t ra ka lyan m o han t y @ New Delhi The Supreme Court on Monday sought clarification from the Centre on whether courts are precluded from awarding fair and just compensation under the SHANTI Act in the event of a nuclear accident. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was hearing a petition filed by a group of retired civil servants and scientists, led by exbureaucrat E A S Sarma. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the batch of petitioners, argued that the Shanti Act exempts nuclear plant suppliers from liability and caps operator liability at a level grossly disproportionate to potential damage. “Irrespective of provisions of the Act, nothing shall preclude a constitutional court from determining the amount of fair and just compensation.... Central government owes certain liability under the Act,” the CJI said. The bench issued notices to the Centre and the Atomic Energy Re gulatory Board seeking response. The SHANTI Act permits private firms to set up civil nuclear plants but exempts them from liability beyond `3,000 crore. The Centre’s residual liability is capped at `4,500 crore. Major ISI-backed terror network busted, 200+ arrested in pre-I-Day swoop M U K E S H R A N J A N @ New Delhi SBN chief being probed for terror-related cases MORE than 200 operatives of the Pakistan-based and ISIbacked Shahzad Bhatti Network (SBN) were arrested in coordinated raids across 14 States ahead of Independence Day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday. These arrests were made following 80 FIRs registered across states. Shah said the operation had dismantled the terror network and foiled plans to carry out SBN chief Shahzad Bhatti is being probed by NIA for several cases, including the March 2025 grenade attack in Jalandhar,the November 2025 explosion at Women Police Station in Sirsa and the January 2026 car-bomb blast at the Baldev Nagar police station in Ambala. “subversive attacks” around August 15. According to a statement by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the multi-state operation was conducted on August 12 using a realtime intelligence-sharing mechanism involving central agencies and state police forc- es. “More than 200 arrests were made across Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Gujarat, Bihar, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala,” it said. “Uttar Pradesh accounted for the highest number of arrests at 62, followed by Haryana with 52, Delhi with 51 and Punjab with 44. Rajasthan recorded 15 arrests, Maharashtra eight and Uttarakhand five. Kar nataka, Gujarat and Bihar reported three arrests each, while Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala reported two each,” the MHA said. Fresh FIRs were also registered in Delhi and Karnataka. The MHA said the arrests were made under UAPA, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Arms Act, NDPS Act and Explosive Substances Act. “Security agencies recovered improvised explosive devices (IEDs), grenades bearing Pakistan Ordnance Fa c t o r y m a rk ings, pistols and live ammunition during the opera- tion. CCTV cameras allegedly used for surveillance and espionage were also seized,” a senior MHA official said, adding that the recovery of ordnance bearing Pakistani markings pointed to the network’s cross-border links. The MHA described SBN as a Pakistan-based terror syndicate involved in grenade, IED and petrol-bomb attacks as well as targeted killings in India. Shah said the crackdown demonstrated a resolve to dismantle terror networks.