As India heads to polls amid 45-degree heat, fears mount over voters’ safety

But Jha’s early arrival was motivated as much by his desire to avoid the midday heat as his eagerness to vote. During India’s last elections in 2019, he nearly fainted after waiting in a queue for four hours under the scorching sun.

“I thought it would be better to go and vote early to avoid the soaring temperatures because my wife and I have health issues, so we decided to go early and save ourselves from the unbearable heat we are witnessing,” Jha, 42, told This Week in Asia. “I was waiting for this day for weeks to cast my vote for my country.”

India’s Meteorological Department, the national weather service, warned earlier this month that temperatures from April until June would be abnormally hot across most of the country.

Environmentalists and public health experts have expressed concerns about the feasibility of proceeding with political rallies and voting as scheduled. They emphasise the importance of implementing appropriate risk-management measures, so as to prevent voters being exposed to serious health risks.

They also argue that the authorities seem oblivious to the dangers of the scorching heatwave already gripping the country.

Aditya Valiathan Pillai, a fellow at the New Delhi-based Sustainable Futures Collaborative who coordinates climate adaptation and resilience research, told This Week in Asia that voters would need protection at polling booths during this year’s elections.

“The first priority is to ensure that each polling booth provides adequate shade cover. Lengthy queues under the scorching sun can pose serious health risks to voters, particularly those engaged in early morning work or physical labour before casting their ballots,” he said.

Voting stations should offer cooling facilities and a designated