Heatwave, election workers’ deaths mar final phase of India’s giant vote

NEW DELHI: At least 20 election workers have died from heatstroke, authorities said on Saturday, as Indians went to the polls in the final round of a six-week-long general vote marred by abnormally hot weather.

The seventh round of voting in 57 constituencies across seven states and one union territory completed polling for all 543 seats in the lower house of parliament.
More than 968 million people were eligible to vote, with the first six phases of the mammoth election held on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, and May 25.
Voter turnout was affected by record-high temperatures, as parts of India continued to reel under a prolonged spell of extreme heat, which this week also took the lives of election workers.
At least 14 people, including 10 polling personnel, have died due to heatstroke in the eastern state of Bihar, according to local media reports.
Mahendra Kumar, magistrate in the state’s Bhojpur district, confirmed to Arab News that five poll officials died due to heatstroke in his region on Thursday alone.
In Mirzapur city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, scorching heat killed at least 10 people on duty at polling stations on Friday.
“Seven home guards and three polling personnel have died due to heatstroke,” said Priyanka Niranjan, district magistrate in Mirzapur.
“These people had reached the polling booth where they were supposed to perform their duty. Their health condition deteriorated there, and they were brought to the hospital for medical attention, and they died there.”
The election sees Prime Minister Narendra Modi chasing a rare third straight five-year term, while his key contender, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, seeks his Congress party’s return to power.
Both took to social media to appeal to voters to cast their ballots.
“You should participate enthusiastically in the festival of democracy. I hope that our youngsters and women will come out in large numbers to vote. Let’s come together to make democracy more vibrant,” Modi said.
Gandhi expressed optimism that his party-led alliance would form the next government.
“A new dawn will be ushered in on June 4,” he wrote on X.
Votes will be counted on June 4. The party or coalition that wins at least 272 of the 543 contested seats will form the government.
However, experts say the election results are far from easy to predict.
“This is a different election compared with 2014 and 2019. It is a very difficult election to call what is going to happen,” Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, a New Delhi-based political analyst and writer, told Arab News.
“In this election anything is possible — there may be a wave in favor of Modi, there may be a wave against Modi ... Voters this time have been silent, and nobody has really spoken.”