Record 642m vote in India in spite of deadly heatwave

Dozens of election workers among 200 dead as the country looks set to re-elect Narendra Modi for historic third term.

- STUTI MISHRA, NAMITA SINGH

A record-breaking 642 million voters cast their ballots in India’s general election, officials announced yesterday, as the huge counting operation was due to begin despite a deadly heatwave.

The seven-phase vote – the world’s largest – began on 19 April and was held in scorching heat in many parts of the country, with temperatures rising to nearly 50C in some regions. Exit polls predict that the incumbent prime minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will win a large majority, affording Mr Modi a historic third term.

More than 200 people, including dozens of workers on election duty, have died in recent days as India sweltered under exceptional heat. At least 33 of those who died were working at polling stations on Saturday, during the seventh and last phase of voting. Most were working as security or sanitation workers. Election duty is compulsory in India for public sector employees, who are assigned by the election commission before voting begins.