The Hindu Morning Digest: April 23, 2026

People will line up on Thursday (April 23, 2026) to vote across 234 Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu and 152 in the first phase of polling in West Bengal. For Tamil Nadu’s over 5.73 crore electors, 75,064 polling stations have been set up in 33,133 locations. In West Bengal, the Election Commission has deployed more than 2,400 companies of central armed police personnel to ensure free and fair polls. Around 3.60 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes in this phase and polling will be held across 44,378 stations.

Many of the nine Indian-flagged LPG carriers evacuated from the Persian Gulf are drifting empty after unloading, even as India contracts with foreign vessels loading LPG at ports in Texas, U.S. Nine Indian-flagged LPG carriers have been moved out of the Gulf. Barring BW Elm, which is currently anchored off Trincomalee in Sri Lanka, the rest are stationed off India’s west coast near Mumbai, Kandla and nearby areas, according to marinetraffic.com.